Jenny's Journey
by ElphieUpland
Summary: Jenny's a rather... rambunctious child, who almost always gets her way. When she starts her journey however, she finds that life isn't exactly a box of chocolate Mews, and her brand new Pokemon is quick to point that out.
1. New Beginnings are Everywhere

**This is my first attempt at writing a Pokefic. My other two stories were for Wicked, so please don't murder me if it's all wrong. Reviews would be lovely, but please use constructive criticism.**

"Mom! Mom! Momma! HEY!" Jenny bounced up and down on her mother's bed for the first time in what seemed like ages. It really was fun, and she didn't know why she had ever stopped in the first place. It was almost liberating.

Her mother groaned and sat up, her normally immaculate brown locks thoroughly tangled. To Jenny, it rather seemed like a Rattata's nest. Scratching her head and mumbling some sort of nonsense, her mother looked over at the alarm clock on the bedside table.

"What on earth were you thinking Jenny?" Her mother cried, "Do you have any idea what time it is?" She fixated Jenny with a glare that, in Jenny's mind, foretold certain doom.

"Well… yes." Jenny mumbled, "It's 4:32." She jumped off the bed sheepishly, then turned to face her mother.

"Then why did you wake up me up? This is…" She trailed off at Jenny's heart-broken look. Even through the darkness, she looked too much like a kicked Growlithe for her mother to remain angry for long. "What do you want?" She sighed.

Jenny's former excitement returned immediately. "It's trainer day! It's trainer day! We have to get to Professor Oak's lab fast! Fast! Fast!"

Her mother groaned inwardly. She should've seen this coming. Jenny had been chattering for months about it, too on edge to think of anything except what her starter would be. Was it really here already?

"Jenny, it doesn't start for another five hours. We've got plenty of time." She sat up in bed and peered at her excitable daughter again. With surprise, she noted that Jenny was already in the blue and white 'trainer' ensemble that they had picked out a week ago for this occasion. It really was adorable, and the cute little hat complimented Jenny's short black hair. Her mother chuckled quietly.

"What are you laughing about?" Jenny demanded shrilly. "We have to get there soon so that I can get my adorable little Jigglypuff!" She folded her arms and took what she thought was a reasonably confident pose.

Her mother blinked. "Jigglypuff…?" What on earth was her daughter on about now?

Jenny nodded sagely. "Jigglypuff. It's my cute new starter pokemon that I chose extra special just for me."

For the second time in five minutes, her mother groaned. "Jenny…" she started gently, "You have to pick from Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur. You knew that didn't you?"

Jenny's face fell again. "But…. I wanted a Jigglypuff…."

Her mother frowned. "Well, maybe later on in your trainer journey, if you can catch one, you can have it, but the league rules state that you can only start with one of those three in our region."

"BUT I WANT ONE NOW!" Jenny screamed. Her mother, taken aback, could see only one course of action. She leapt at the idea before she had a chance to think about it.

"Well, we'll just have to ask Professor Oak, now won't we?" she said. Jenny's shiny blue eyes widened, and her mother immediately realized her mistake.

Five minutes later, Jenny was dragging her sleep-deprived mother, clad only in pajamas, down the road to Pallet Town.

And an hour and a half later, at six o'clock in the morning, a just as sleepy looking Professor Oak unlocked the doors to his lab, and unwittingly released a little blue and white tornado upon the building.

**Remember, reviews are like kittens! Everybody wants one! Tell me what you think.**

**P.S. Not all the chapters will be this short. If you like it, then you can usually expect a 2,000 word chapter.**


	2. We're off the see the Professor!

**Special thanks to Alex999139 and SouljaGurl for being my first reviewers! It means a lot. And no, this isn't officer Jenny from the Anime, though I kinda wish I had thought of that. ._.**

**Anyway! On with the story!**

Professor Oak was startled awake as a screaming little blue and white blur rushed past him and into his lab. It bounced off the walls, running into things, knocking papers off his desk, and generally making a commotion.

"I WANT MY JIGGLYPUFF!" The blob shrieked. Professor Oak groaned, and ran his fingers through his graying hair. He was getting to old to chase after whatever trainer wanted to be the exception to the rules now.

"Jenny…" came a pleading voice from behind him. He turned and locked eyes with a very bedraggled-looking woman, dressed only in yellow Pichu pajamas. She gave him a sad look and pointed towards the thing.

"That's my daughter, Jenny Sage. And I'm Ariel Sage. We live in the next town over." She sighed. "She woke me up at 4:30 to get here, and well… she still managed to stay excited over the walk. I sincerely apologize. She's normally a well-behaved ten year old…" Her last words were spoken as a loud crash was heard from across the room.

Jenny had run into a file cabinet. She was looking at them sheepishly, and her nose had turned red from the impact Now she was stationary, albeit a little teary-eyed, and Professor Oak could get a better look at her.

She seemed pretty much like the average ten-year-old excited for their very first journey. She was rather short, and Professor Oak wondered how she had managed to destroy the things higher up on the walls than she could reach. She was unusually pale, almost to the point where her skin blended in with her white shirt and shorts. The only real color was all the blue on her. She had a sleeveless blue vest, fingerless blue gloves, blue tennis shoes with lighter blue socks, and a blue beret…thingy. He wasn't exactly sure how to describe the hat, but he was busy right now. Maybe he would come up with a poem about it later.

"Hello!" The professor said cheerily, walking slowly toward her, hoping not to set off another spazz attack. "My name is Professor Oak. I'm the pokemon professor here in Pallet Town. I may not look it," He motioned to his pink sleeping cap, "But I'm a very important official. Do you know what I do?"

Jenny nodded, suddenly the epitome of shyness. "You give new trainers their starter pokemon. That's why I'm here…" she trailed off. "Can I get my Jigglypuff now?" She jumped up and down in a little dance that seemed to sort of mimic a Jigglypuff's movement.

Oak was almost disappointed to let the girl down. "Well…uh, you see…Jenny," he said in a lowered voice, sinking down on his knees to look her in the eyes -bad choice for his back, but he'd fix that later too- "Um…you can't have…. A Jigglypuff."

Jenny, instead of taking the sad, pleading path, voted to yell at him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T HAVE ONE!" She screeched, making him flinch. "I WALKED ALL THIS WAY AND YOU SAY I CAN'T HAVE A POKEMON?" She curled her tiny hands into fists, trying and failing to intimidate Professor Oak.

"I walked here too…" Her mother muttered from across the lab. Both Oak and Jenny looked at her, one amused and the other murderous, and she held up her hands in the "I surrender" position and looked away.

"Well…umm…We only get Jigglypuff here every three years," He said, dishing out the lies as fast as he could to placate this little girl. "And someone got one last year! Yeah! And besides, I didn't say you couldn't have a pokemon, I just said you couldn't have _that_ one. Maybe you can catch one later on."

"That's what I said!" cried her mother, throwing her hands up in the air. Again, she got a few looks and suddenly became preoccupied with fixing a button on her pajamas.

"You have to pick from either Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur." Oak continued gently. "And what luck! You're the -first" his voice hitched, looking at the Hypno clock. 6:15. What an ungodly hour to be awake. "You're the first one here! So you have all three to choose from!"

Jenny folded her arms and grumped, muttering about a Jigglypuff, but she followed Oak over to the table where three pokeballs sat defiantly, waiting for a trainer to take them. Oak turned to her when he got there and spoke.

"Jenny, if I give you a Pokemon, you have to promise me something." he said warily.

"Yeah, okay! What is it?"

"You have to treat your Pokemon with respect, and love. You have to be responsible for feeding it, taking care of it. You and your Pokemon have to _trust_ in each other. Otherwise, you'll never get past Viridian Forest. Understand?" he looked at her folded arms, and folded his in retort.

"…Fine. I still want a Jigglypuff though." Jenny said, not to be deterred.

"Maybe later. Right now, you have a choice to make." Oak made to grab a pokeball and release the Pokemon inside, but instead Jenny marched right up, took the ball from his hands, minimized it and stuck it in her pocket.

"I want this one." She said patting her pocket. Oak blinked, a little frustrated at having his favorite part of the Trainer process interrupted.

"You don't even know what it is! Besides, don't you want to get to know your Pokemon before you choose it?" He asked weakly, getting the feeling that he wasn't going to change her mind. How the mighty had fallen. Well-respected professor, intimidating and scary, to tossed aside like a plaything in the wake of a ten-year-old child.

Jenny was already turning to walk away. "I know what it is," she called over her shoulder, grabbing her mom's hand and heading towards the door. "It's a Squirtle. I'm gonna name it Peach. We're gonna have fun until I can find a Jigglypuff, because Squirtle match my outfit." And with that, she and her mother were gone, leaving a very confused and tired Professor Oak standing awkwardly at the table. He looked down out the table with the two pokeballs and noticed that Jenny hadn't taken the Squirtle ball. He made to run after her, but he decided against it, considering her bratty behavior, and the fact that his back was aching too badly to let him move away from the bleached white table.

Just as the sun rose over the trees, creating a peaceful, very pretty shade on the town that neither Jenny nor her mother had ever seen because of their habits of sleeping in, the two of them marched back into their little town. She noticed her friend Darian marching just as quickly away, towards the lab they had left. She noticed that his outfit was a lot like hers, except less girly, and it was black and yellow, matching his blonde hair and dark eyes.

"Hey Darian!" Jenny called tauntingly, "You're going to be late to Professor Oak's!"

He glanced over at her, smirking. "So're you! You're going in the wrong direction!"

Jenny had been hoping this would happen. She smiled sweetly at him. "No I'm not! I've already got my Pokemon!" she held out her pokeball for him to examine and be jealous of.

Just as expected, Darian's mouth fell open, and he paused in the middle of the street. "No fair! How? His lab opens in 5 minutes! How? What Pokemon did you get? Can I see! HOW?"

Jenny just smiled, shaking her head. "Don't you have somewhere to be? Maybe you'll see my lovely Squirtle if you ever catch up to me! Slowpoke!" She stuck out her tongue at him, purposefully not answering his question, and he looked slightly crestfallen. Maybe that was the Pokemon he wanted… Jenny felt bad, but only for an instant, because her mother grabbed her by the hand and started dragging her away. "Well… Hurry up!" she called behind her, feeling some genuine concern, "Or you might not get there in time! Hurry!"

He nodded and ran the other way, quickly becoming a black and yellow speck in the distance. He almost looked like a Beedrill from that far away. She hoped he would get there on time. Where else would she find another rival? With luck, he would even pick a Charmander so that she could totally whip him in a battle against her Squirtle.

When they finally got home, Jenny's mother turned to her on the front porch. "Sit down, Jenny. There are a few things we need to talk about before you go." She motioned to the wooden porch swing, and Jenny plopped down on it while her mother ran inside.

When Jenny swung on the thing, the chains that held it up squeaked loudly. Too loudly for her to get over it and continue. With nothing to do but wait and see what her mother wanted, Jenny reached into her pocket for her pokeball. As she drew it out, she looked at it carefully. It was shiny smooth, half red and half white, with a black stripe separating the to sides from the white button in the middle. It was exactly like the ones she had seen in the commercial advertising what Jenny called "trainer day". And now it was her very own! And in it was her very own Squirtle! She kissed the pokeball and was about to throw it when her mother came out, fully dressed and carrying a white backpack with blue zippers.

Jenny's eyes widened, and she reached for it, but her mother held it out of reach.

"First, we talk." Her mother said ominously, sitting down on the creaky bench next to her. "Your behavior this morning was unacceptable. The only way you got away with it is both Professor Oak and I were too exhausted to do anything."

Jenny wrung her hands as her mother continued. "As much as I love you, if I get word of anything like this happening on your journey, you are back here faster than you can say 'For the love of Mew.' Kapeesh?" Jenny nodded silently. "Kapeesh?"

"Fine! Kapeesh!"

Her mother nodded and handed her the backpack. "I love you sweetie. Have a nice time on your journey. You know I'll miss you."

Jenny grumbled as her mother swept her up in a hug, but she hugged back and almost didn't want to leave.

However, the desire was too great, and she bounced off the creaky porch with a cheery "G'bye Mom!" and ran down the road to Viridian Forest, eager to take the same path as every other trainer took. Her mother looked on sadly, knowing that it would be a couple of weeks before she heard from Jenny. Jenny however, was walking in the clouds. She was so happy that she skipped, hopped, and ran through the town until she came to a fork. The path she took diverged from the main road and went from concrete to dirt. The dust from the road got on her shoes, but she was too excited to care about cosmetics right then. Small buildings gave way to small trees, which gave way to bigger trees that cast shadows as they grappled with the sunlight. All of it went by quickly until she stopped running, too tired out to do anything but rest a little.

Plopping down in a large field surrounded by trees, she pulled out her pokeball and a PB&J sandwich her mother had made for her. This was as good a place as any to meet her new pokemon and have breakfast. As she munched on one half of her delicious, sacred sandwich, she casually threw the pokeball. "Go Peach!" she called out, only slightly muffled by the bread in her mouth. A flash of white light nearly blinded her, and she stuffed the rest of the half-wich into her mouth and held out her arms to catch her new Squirtle.

What landed in her arms was no Squirtle however, and as the two locked eyes, both of them jumped back and emitted a scream that, had they been in her town, would've broken glass window within a mile's radius.

**Hahaaha! *cackles evilly* My very first cliffhanger! That felt good! Maybe I should do it more often… No no, I'm just kidding. Anyway, what did ya think? What do you suppose her Pokemon is gonna be if it's not a Squirtle. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.**

**Anyway. Remember! Kittens are reviews! Or… something like that… just click that button!**


	3. Evil Monsters and Staring Contests

**Wow! Reviewer response to this little ol' story is pretty good! It's already got more reviews than my other two combined! Maybe Pokefans are just better than Wicked fans. O.O**

**Thanks to Frizz.22, Silver Don, define-originality, Alex999139, and o-Crystal Sakura-o for reviewing! Some of you had some ideas for Jenny's starter that almost changed my mind. Almost, but not quite. And Crystal Sakura, if you want to do an OT story, you should! They're always fun, especially if you ever decide to let them meet an Anime character. *evil happy face***

**DISCLAIMER! I forgot to say this, but Pokemon isn't mine. DISCLAIMER!**

**Finally, pardon this long note, I'm falling into an update pattern of once a day. This might not always be the case, but I'll try to make it happen, because hey, I'd rather write fan fiction than do my summer reading assignment. **

Jenny kept screaming and cowering in the grass long after the little green monster's initial squeal of shock had ended. She clenched her eyes closed and covered them with her hands, backing away from her Pokemon, which most certainly was not a Squirtle.

"Bulba?" The little Bulbasaur inquired after she finally stopped screaming, tilting its head to the side, confusion evident in its eyes. Jenny began screaming again. "Bulba!" it cried, and surprised, it ran into the taller grass and hid, only its shiny red eyes visible. As the trainer continued her annoying, high-pitched scream, the Bulbasaur hesitantly stepped forward. It got all the way to her after awhile, and reached out and poked her with a far from sharp claw.

Jenny leapt back as if she were stabbed, attempting to stand up and make a run for it, but only falling backwards into the grass. Luckily, the grass padded her fall, so it didn't hurt, but it was still damaging to her ego. She stood up again, more carefully, fixed her rumpled shorts and noted with some sadness that they already had some pretty serious grass stains on them, and pointed at the knee-high Pokemon accusatorily.

"You're not a Squirtle!" she said, backing slowly away. She disliked Bulbasaurs. A lot. In fact, she hated most grass types, but Bulbasaurs less so because they were oddly cute, in a terrifying, demonic sort of way.

The Bulbasaur nodded, its red eyes flashing, as if to say "Duh." It clearly didn't think its trainer was very bright. It took a step toward her, extending its small paw in greeting. "Saur!" It said, seeming to introduce itself.

Jenny jumped again and blinked back tears. How had she messed this up? She had been so sure that it had been a Squirtle. Why hadn't Professor Oak told her? Now she was stuck with a Pokemon she not only disliked, but was afraid of.

"W-what?" she said, her voice trembling, "I can't understand you. Speak human." she backed away from it again and cautiously sunk to the ground, crossing her legs and folding her arms.

The Bulbasaur got the hint and backed off, wondering how, exactly, one spoke 'human'. It sat down too, trying to mimic her, but only managed to look silly. "Saur." It proclaimed regally, after maneuvering into a comfortable position. It held up its chin and smiled. Or at least, that's what Jenny was hoping the showing of teeth was. After all, it could be some sort of death warning grin. An evil, death grin…

"Your name is Saur?" Jenny asked, peering at the horrifying little monster suspiciously. Evil things didn't have names. They were evil!

The Bulbasaur heaved a heavy sigh and tried to speak again. "Bul-Bulba!" it exclaimed, shaking its head, trying to communicate with this seemingly less-than-smart trainer.

"Bulbulba? What kind of name is that?" Jenny inquired incredulously.

The Bulbasaur sighed again and made a motion that could only be interpreted as the Pokemon version of a face palm.

"Don't look at me like that!" Jenny screeched, suddenly very angry and on her feet again. This monster was irritating her. Why couldn't she have gotten an adorable little Squirtle to match her outfit? "Just tell me your name, you… you… maggot!" she yelled, unable to think of a more suitable insult.

The Bulbasaur promptly sat up straight and saluted.

Great. Now she had a terrifying, smart-aleck Bulbasaur. Just great. She curled her hands into fists and stomped her foot. "Would you just tell me your name so we can get through with this?" she demanded. "Is it Bulbulba or Saur?"

The Bulbasaur, suddenly getting the feeling that things were going nowhere, sighed again and held up two of its claws. Jenny only looked confused.

"Your name is Two?"

The Bulbasaur just looked at her strangely. Then, it whipped out a vine from underneath the bulb on its back and whipped her on the hand. She jumped back and screamed. Again. She tripped and landed on her backside. Again. The Bulbasaur marched right up to her, mindless of her warning shriek, held up two claws again and said, "Saur." in a firm tone.

"You assaulted me! You… wait… what did you say? Saur? That's your name? Didn't I ask that already? Make up your mind!" Jenny pouted, not at all happy with her Pokemon.

The Bulbasaur glared at her, but nodded, resigned to its fate. After all, it couldn't go against its trainer. Even if that trainer didn't know what was best.

Jenny glared right back at it. She was not going to be made a fool of by a Pokemon, even if she was scared of it. Not no way, not no how.

Saur, not to be deterred either, held the evil stare.

It went on for awhile, this hostile staring contest, until Jenny's eyes started to water. She was feeling exceedingly uncomfortable, but she wouldn't lose. The pain grew and grew until she finally blinked. Saur smiled evilly. Jenny didn't like that look.

"Wait! Wait! Two out of three!" She begged. The Bulbasaur shrugged, clearly confident that it would win. That irritated Jenny, so she pretended that there was something very interesting in the middle of Saur's forehead and didn't even blink between the second and third contests.

"Ha! I won! You have to listen to me now!" Jenny cheered. Saur snorted indignantly, but seemed to acknowledge the win. The rules of the staring contest were universal after all, and the Bulbasaur just wanted to get everything over with and hit the road.

"So!" Jenny started imperiously. "Rule one. No more scaring me. Got it?" Saur nodded, disappointed. "Rule two. You are subject to all my makeovers. You may even be turned pink until we can find a Jigglypuff." The Bulbasaur nodded again. This time it was terrified. Pink? How degrading. And what was this business about a Jigglypuff? "Rule three! You'll be traveling in your pokeball. You're scary." This, Saur objected violently to.

Jenny jumped back as Saur started whipping the ground with its whips. It reminded Jenny of the tantrums she threw when she wanted something really, really badly and would throw herself on the floor and hit the wood with her fists.

"Hey! I said no terrifying me!" Saur turned its angry glare on her and whipped her again. "HEY! THAT HURT, YOU BRAT!" Hmmm. That sounded familiar. Maybe her mother had said that about her a few times in the past.

Saur continued to whip her until she finally conceded. "Fine. Fine, fine, fine. You can stay out of your pokeball. Just… Stop hitting me!" She examined her arms, which were now thoroughly red. If she came across somebody, she would probably have to explain that she had a mutinous, evil Bulbasaur that treated her like a slave. Maybe they would trade it for a Squirtle! Or a Jigglypuff!

Saur smiled smugly and went over to her backpack. "Hey! What are you doing?" Jenny cried, running over to stop him. It was too late. Saur had fished out the rest of her sandwich and had started munching on it. "That's MY PB&J, you terrible devil spawn!" However, when Jenny reached for it, Saur just whipped her. She reached again, and it whipped her again. Getting wise, she reached again, but when Saur tried to whip her, she grabbed its whip and yanked on it, sending it hurtling towards a tree at the edge of the clearing. With that thing temporarily out of the way, she dove for the half eaten, half-sandwich and zipped it up in her backpack quickly.

"Aw man… I got jelly on my backpack! My brand new backpack!" Jenny lamented as Saur came strolling up, attempting to be nonchalant after being thrown like that. She whirled on the unsuspecting Bulbasaur. "You!" she yelled, "You are suppose to listen to me! Now look what you did to my backpack! I should just return you right no- don't even try to whip me, you know what happened last time- Look! I'll try to get along with you, as long as you don't scare or attack me but that just ain't happenin' right now! Let me tell you, there's only room for one troublemaker in this relationship, and that is yours truly! Got it!" Saur nodded timidly, sufficiently cowed.

"Good." She muttered.

"Jeez, Jenny, I've never seen you take charge like that. Impressive. But… aren't you supposed to have a Squirtle?"

Jenny whirled around on the spot, somehow materializing Saur's pokeball out of thin air and returning the very unwilling Bulbasaur as a confused Darian walked into the clearing, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. A Charmander waddled behind him, happily charring the grass in the clearing.

Jenny was suddenly very shy, and elected to hide behind her backpack.

Darian laughed. "I… uh… I can still… see you Jenny."

"Shoot." Jenny dropped the backpack ungracefully as Darian finished walking the distance between them. "How did you get here so fast Darian? It takes an hour and half to run to the lab, so how did you get _here_?" Jenny motioned broadly to the ring of trees surrounding them.

Darian looked even more confused, and he tilted his head slightly, checking his watch. "We're about fifteen minutes from Professor Oak's lab. I should be asking you the same question. Did you run after me or something?"

Jenny's mouth hung open for a second, before she snapped it shut. She must have really been walking on air if she had run that far without noticing. Either that, or she and Saur were the best two staring contesters ever to grace the Kanto region and their staring contest had lasted long enough to get Darian all the way to the beginnings of Viridian Forest.

Darian laughed again. "Well, since you're not going to tell me, I'll just introduce my new buddy here." He gestured grandly towards the squat little Charmander at his side, who was happily tracing a Butterfree's flight in the distance. "This…" he paused theatrically, "is Char. Not very original, I know, but still. It fits, don't you think?" Jenny just nodded.

"Hey…" she started hesitantly, "Why didn't you get the Squirtle?"

"It was gone by the time I got there… I figured you had it. But I see you have the Bulbasaur. You know, come to think of it, the professor did mention a particularly overactive child who arrived at 6 in the morning and took his Bulbasaur. I thought at the time it sounded like you and," he grinned, "I was right!"

Jenny had started blushing from the moment he had started speaking, and with his finishing sentence, she looked rather like a Voltorb. Her arms and face were a dark red, but her legs remained pale.

This did not go unnoticed by Darian, but he decided to let it be and inquire how her arms had gotten so red. "May I inquire how your arms have gotten so red?" he said gallantly. For a ten-year-old, that is.

She blushed even deeper, if that was possible. "I tried to return Saur, and it didn't like that. Then it stole my sandwich and, of course, I had to get it- What are you laughing about?" she folded her arms so that less red was visible, clearly hurt.

"I-I'm sorry Jenny, but _Saur stole my sandwich?_ You cannot deny that the sentence itself is hilarious."

Jenny scoffed and turned away.

"Or maybe you can… but still! Seems like you two are already bonding."

"It's a terrible spawn of the devil, it scares me, and I hate it."

"Why are you calling your Pokemon an 'it'? Don't you know its gender?"

Jenny looked surprised. "Uhh… no I don't. I sort of… left-before-Professor-Oak-could-tell-me." she finished lamely.

Darian smiled again. "You're crazy. Well, why don't you call out your Bulbasaur and we can try and find out?'

"Nuh uh! Did I not mention 'terrible spawn of the devil'? Was I not clear enough?" Jenny protested, but she still brought out Saur's ball. "Go Saur." She grumbled, unenthused.

The white light blinded them all for second, except Char, who had been looking the other way in an attempt to shoot an Ember at a nearby Caterpie. The little Bulbasaur came out smiling, relieved to be out of its pokeball. Darian squatted down next to it.

"Hi little…umm… Saur." Darian said softly, noting that Jenny's name for her Pokemon wasn't much more original than his. Saur looked at him inquiringly. "We just wanted to know what gender you are so that Jenny can stop referring to you as terrible dev- it." The Bulbasaur chuckled.

"Bulb!" It said confidently.

"Er… I can't understand you. Could you hold up one claw for female and the two for male?" The Bulbasaur nodded, already growing fond of this clearly more intelligent trainer. Saur held up a single claw.

"Good news, Jenny!" Darian called to the ring of trees, which Jenny had disappeared into, not wanting to be associated with the 'devil spawn'. "'It's' a girl!" Darian heard a distant shout of acknowledgement and chuckled, scooping up the Bulbasaur and grabbing Char's paw. "Let's go get Jenny. Wouldn't want to lose your trainer after a couple of hours now, would we?"

Saur just snorted, which Darian decided to interpret as agreement.

**Ahhhh! The horrors of having a friend who loves fanfiction just as much as I do! She keeps insisting that Jenny is my Mary-Sue. Terrible isn't she?**

**Coming up: Actual plot, instead of -what I thought was- cute filler! Gasp!**

**It has come to my attention that for some strange reason, some people are not fond of kittens. So, if you wish, you may change "Reviews are like kittens" to "Reviews are like puppies" or "Reviews are like any animal in its infancy". Anything will work, as long as you push that poor little button down there. It's so lonely. **


	4. On the Road to Viridian City!

**Hallo, all! Again, how can I ever thank you guys for the reviews? They mean so much. :D CrystalSakura, I forgot to tell you earlier, but her dad is a traveling merchant. He pops up later in the story, I promise. And Silver Don, I'm kinda-sorta-in-a-way-but-not-really stealing your Jigglypuff review thing. It's a good idea ;D**

**Sorry if this one is a little bit late, but hey, plot advancement! Yay! *Throws plot at you to distract you from the lateness***

**I don't own Pokemon, ya dah ya dah ya dah, on with the show.**

After a couple of minutes of searching, Darian, Saur, and Char found Jenny. She was hiding up in a tree.

"You found me?" Jenny asked disbelievingly. "I thought I had hidden well enough to dodge the terrible devi- Saur, for a few more minutes! At least."

Darian looked down at Saur, who had leapt out of his arms early in the search and was now licking her paw. "I think she's insulted-" Saur scoffed, fixating her eyes on Jenny with a disgusted look, "And that both of you should apologize to each other so we can hurry up and get to Viridian City. Most trainers are there within a week, and I don't want to be an exception."

Neither Jenny nor Saur moved an inch. They instead opted to glare at each other. Darian sighed, and just prayed they would be able to get over their little argument soon. They couldn't stay like that forever. After all, they did have places to go, and Gym leaders to see.

"I'm sure the Squirtle trainer is already halfway there!" He said tauntingly, hoping to get a rise.

That did the trick. Jenny fell out of the tree, and Saur even had the graciousness to catch her with a Vine Whip before both of them took off. They would not be beaten by a team that had started their quest after them.

"Ummm… other way!" Darian called loudly. Without so much as a pause, the two of them wheeled around and ran back.

Before Darian even had a chance to contemplate following them, they were a good way down the path, headed the right direction this time. He looked down at Char, who was looking up at him, confusion in his eyes.

"I think they'll make a good pair after all. Their personalities are so similar…"

"Char! Charman!" he replied happily. But then again, it was starting to seem as if Char was always going to be happy.

"You said it."

In the distance, Darian could swear he heard Jenny scream something along the lines of "Eat my dust, Darian!" Darian sighed and started walking, relatively quickly, after Jenny, Char at his side.

Jenny and Saur ran side by side in the dust for awhile before they both collapsed out of exhaustion on different sides of the path. Their eyes met, and Jenny sensed some tension that she really didn't feel like dealing with just then.

Leaning against a tree, she panted heavily. "Look Saur…. We can… go back to hating…. Each other… another time… but right now… I'm tired so let's wait… for Darian to… get here. Maybe he brought… a map or something." The Bulbasaur, instead of objecting, just nodded and curled up under her tree, promptly falling asleep.

Jenny was a little annoyed to be left to her own devices. She had expected Saur to at least try to further their quest to be frienemies. However, at least now she had time to think about how she was going to get herself a Jigglypuff. She could buy one… but that cost money that she didn't have, and after the talk her mother had just had with her about responsibility, she doubted her mother would support her in that particular area. No, no, she needed better ideas.

She had just landed on an idea involving carrots, string, a stick, and a box when she heard footsteps coming up the path. It was about time!

"Saur! Wake up!" she hissed as she positioned herself in the middle of the dirt trail, arms folded and completely ready to give Darian a scolding for being such a Slowpoke. Saur grumbled sleepily, but got up anyway and stood by Jenny, her eyes half-lidded.

As the person finally came round the corner, Jenny prepared herself and opened her mouth to speak. "Where on earth have you beeen? Do you know how long both us had to wait for, aaaaaand you're not Darian…" Jenny trailed off as she came face to face with a brunette trainer with long hair, who seemed to be about her age, with Saur staring directly into a Squirtle's eyes.

The girl smirked. "Hmm. Well. I've been all over really. Mainly just traveling through this forest. And no, I really don't know how long you've been waiting, because I don't know you. And I'm most certainly NOT whoever this Darian person is. Is he your boyfriend? I'm Sarah, by the way. I don't even look like a boy." The girl put her hands on her hips and shook her hair around her face, looking Jenny over sarcastically, with her Squirtle doing the same thing. That is… If the Squirtle had been in possession of any hair, which it wasn't.

Saur, who apparently knew this Squirtle from somewhere, and had been making conversation with it, looked back and forth between the new Pokemon and its trainer. She looked up at Jenny and pointed at Sarah. "Saur!" she said wonderingly.

Jenny didn't hear however, because she was too busy laughing at the idea of Darian being her boyfriend. Even though she didn't like this Sarah girl, and rather thought Sarah was a meanie, she couldn't help herself.

"D-Darian? My b-boyfriend? HA! He's too boring! No way!" She giggled, almost uncontrollably. "I'd rather go out with a Metapod!" She fell to the ground laughing, as Sarah and Squirtle looked at her as if she'd grown a third head.

"As much as I hate being one-upped by a Metapod," came Darian's voice from behind Sarah, "I have to agree. We're only ten, and I don't even like Jenny. Not like that anyway," he said without a blush. Both girls jumped and turned towards him as he walked up, Char right behind him. He looked Sarah up and down. "So you're the Squirtle trainer, huh?" Jenny mentally kicked herself. She should've noticed sooner! She had been trying to pass up this very trainer!

The girl put her hands on her hips again, clearly trying to be cool. "Yeah. So?"

Saur went over and tugged on Darian's shoelace, pointing first at Sarah, then at Jenny, more insistently this time. "Saur!" she said.

"What are you saying about me, devil spa- Saur?" Jenny asked, giving Saur a no-nonsense glare. Sarah glanced over, confused by the name, but let it be.

"Well… I think she's trying to point out that both of you are wearing the same outfit, except you're blue, and she's red." Darian said, pointing at Jenny and Sarah, respectively, as if it were obvious.

The two girls looked at each other in surprise. "Well, I hardly see how that matters right now, since I clearly wear it better, and we're supposed to be worrying about how to get to Viridian City." Jenny said casually, turning to Darian. "Did you bring a map?"

Darian was about to reply in the positive when Sarah spoke up. "Excuse me girly girl, but first of all, I am clearly the much more devastatingly attractive of us two, and second, I don't need your help! I've got my own map, and I already know the way!"

Darian tried to intervene again, trying the calm the two down and maybe even get Sarah to lead them to Viridian safely, but Jenny quickly dashed all hopes of that ever happening.

"If by devastamatata…ingly attractive you mean 'ugliest' than sure! And if you already know the way then fine! Leave! I bet you 50 poke that we can get there faster with out you!"

"No! Jenny!" Darian cried desperately, but it was too late.

"Fine! I think I will! You're gonna owe me 50 poke when I see you in the Pokemon Center!" With that, Sarah stomped off down the dirt path, fuming. Her Squirtle waved a quick goodbye to Saur, who had been watching the whole thing with increasing amusement, and ran off after its angry trainer.

"Great. That's _wonderful_, Jenny. See what you did? I've never seen someone make enemies as easily as you do! Now we're most likely going to get lost and I'm almost certain you have no money, so for Mew's sake, how are you going to pay?" Darian said, working himself up into a panic.

Jenny waved him off. "Relaaaaax Darian! I got this. There's no way that that low down, completely not-prettier-than-me meanie is ever going to get there before us. Give me your map." She held out her hand imperiously, and Darian dug through his backpack doubtfully.

Jenny stood there, hand out and foot tapping while Darian searched. He looked all around the insides of his backpack, and noted with despair, that he couldn't seem to find it anywhere.

"Great…" he muttered. "Just great."

"What is it Darian? Where's the map?" Jenny said, starting to sound worried. Darian shrugged, trying not to display panic twice in one day. "You…. don't have… the map?" Jenny said, her voice modulating up a little with each syllable, ending in a timid squeak. Darian shook his head, hoping to look calmer than he felt.

"Bulba!" came Saur's laughing voice from behind them. She pulled out one of her vines and reached toward Darian, who flinched at first but stopped when he was threatened with another whip, and pulled the map out of his back pocket, safely depositing it in Jenny's still open hand.

"Devilish tease," Jenny grumbled, but to Darian it seemed as if she was starting to sound affectionate. "Both of you had me going there for a sec." Did she think it was a plot? Well, Darian could play along. Of course he hadn't gotten scared. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry to, uh…. frighten you. Saur and I were playing a joke…Yeah." He hung his head in mock shame.

Saur just smiled 'innocently', withdrawing her whips and walking over to Jenny, who had completely disregarded them both, and was now attempting to read the map. Upside down.

"Jenny. Maybe I should do this…" Darian said, reaching for it, but Jenny snatched it away, shaking her head.

"Nope. I can do this. It's this way." Jenny said, pointing northwest. Darian tried to protest, but Jenny was already off. He got the distinct feeling that she was going to be the death of them all, but he couldn't let her just wander around alone. With_ his _map, no less.

Almost a week later, an exhausted and starving Jenny and Darian crawled out of Viridian Forest. Their clothes were ripped and muddy, and Jenny was missing a shoe. Their hair looked absolutely terrible, both of them had lost their hats, and they themselves looked as if they had crawled out of a horror movie. Both Jenny's and Darian's legs were aching, and their backs were -they thought- pretty much sway-backed for life after hauling around their backpacks for a week.

The only visible upsides were that both of their Pokemon had leveled up so much during the week that the wild Pokemon of the forest stopped attacking them halfway through, and both of them had officially AH-mazing tans.

Darian stood up with a groan, dusting off his shorts. Turning to Jenny and helping her up, he said, "If you EVER make me do this again, EVER, I swear I will kill you. From now on, I get the maps."

Jenny weakly agreed, staying silent for once and staring into space.

"Well hey," Darian said, unaccustomed to talking to silence around Jenny, "At least we're only a few steps away from Viridian City now. Isn't that good?" he said comfortingly.

Jenny shook her head again, pointing at a sign directly in front of them. Tears were welling in her eyes. Darian turned to look, and almost started crying too.

_Pewter City: The City of Stone._

_**OMG!**_** How exactly did they bypass Viridian? Oh my gosh… Poor them!**

**Ah well. I guess Darian's officially traveling with Jenny now. Can't say that I object. But then again, of course I don't! I'm the author.**

**Anyways, what did you guys think of Sarah? I'm debating whether or not her personality is too much like Jenny's. After all, Saur is rather like Jenny too, and we can't go about having 3 identical characters can we? Anyway, now my favorite part.**

**Reviews are like Jigglypuff. Jenny reaaaaaally wants one. Reaaaaaally bad. So click!**


	5. Jigglypuffs are the Meaning of Life

**Hi guys! If only Jigglypuffs actually were reviews… then Jenny could have one! Ah well. Thanks to my new reviewers, ChUcLeSXD279, and FireheartE for your input. It gave me those warm happy fuzzlies in my stomach! :D**

**By the way, I had not been under the impression that I had been overusing cliffhangers, I guess they're just so (evilly) fun that I was doing it subconsciously, but I'll lay off. They definitely make transitions to new settings easier though.**

**And thanks for you guys' opinions about Sarah! It helped me a lot. Maybe I won't get rid of her…**

**I have never, nor will I ever, own Pokemon. Somehow I got the impression that you guys knew that, but hey, can't be too careful.**

As soon as Jenny and Darian stepped foot into the Pokemon center, they were set upon by a very flustered Nurse Joy.

"What on earth happened to you?" she demanded. Jenny and Darian exchanged a look as the unfamiliar pink-headed lady examined them on the spot. "You look like you've just crawled out of Mewtwo's lair! Not to mention the fact that YOU'RE TRACKING DIRT ONTO MY FLOORS!"

If the lady hadn't look so serious, and if both Jenny and Darian weren't so exhausted, Jenny might have laughed. They had only taken a single step in before being assaulted. How could they have tracked dirt that far?

Other people in the center, whom Jenny could only assume were trainers, were glancing at them. Some were snickering, and others looked sympathetic. Had they done something wrong? Or did they just look that much of a mess?

"Who are you, miss?" Jenny asked as the woman grabbed both of their arms and dragged them both towards a pair of ominous looking white doors with a needle sign over both of them.

Nurse Joy looked back at them with a strange look. "You really don't know?" she asked incredulously, still dragging them through the doors and motioning for both of them to sit on a pair of clinically white beds, which looked more like stretchers than anything.

Jenny jumped on the bed and folded her arms, clearly waiting for Nurse What's-Her-Name to examine her and get it over with. "No, we don't know you. Are you famous or something?"

"Well, no, not exactly." the woman said, holding out her hands. "Your pokeballs please."

"No way!" Jenny exclaimed, hugging her backpack, which contained Saur's pokeball, close. "Why should I trust my Pokemon with some strange lady? Tell us who you are and then maybe!" Jenny glared at Darian, who had already given the lady his pokeball, and in the process made her demand less effective.

"Jenny…" Darian mumbled, trying to stop her from embarrassing herself further, "This is Nurse Joy."

"Nurse Whozit?"

Nurse Joy looked at the girl with growing confusion. "Maybe I should check for head trauma," she said, more to herself than to the two kids sitting in front of her.

"I'm Nurse Joy. You know, the Nurse who runs every single Pokemon center? Surely you saw my identical cousin in Viridian? We're not famous, but it's a well known fact that all of us look alike and run Pokemon centers."

Jenny shook her head matter-of-factly. "Never heard of ya. But… I suppose if you're a nurse, and Darian trusts you… I can too." Jenny looked through her backpack -which, consequently was no longer recognizable as ever have being white- and hand her Saur's pokeball. "Just… take care of Saur, okay? I just got past calling her terrible devil spawn."

Darian chuckled, and Nurse Joy felt extremely out of the loop. Considering what little she already knew about this girl and her friend, however, she didn't think she wanted to be in the loop anyway. She called for a Chansey, and handed it the pokeballs.

"Chansey!" it chirped happily, looking briefly at the trainers, then bouncing off to wherever.

"Now, why don't you tell me exactly how you… got like this?" Nurse Joy said, turning to the children and motioning at their tattered clothes and many scratches. She began checking them over and bandaging them up as Jenny began to speak.

Several minutes later, Nurse Joy was completely filled in, and Jenny and Darian were completely bandaged up. Nurse Joy stepped back and looked proudly at her work. "Well, sounds like you two have been through quite an entertaining adventure so far. Are you going to go back to Viridian? After all, you still have to meet with this Sarah girl, don't you? You probably owe her some money."

Jenny, eyes widening, shook her head fiercely. "Oh no, I am not going back through that forest for as long as I live. Besides, I have no money to even buy new clothes, much less payback a bet to a meanie."

Darian chuckled again. "I don't suggest going back on a bet, but I agree with Jenny. There is no way we're going back through that forest any time soon."

Nurse Joy simply shrugged. "Well, you're good to go now, so feel free to use the video phones in the lobby to call who ever you need to. Your Pokemon should be out shortly after you. By the way, are you two taking the gym challenge?"

They both nodded.

"Well then, your opponent here in town is Brock. In case you didn't know, he's a rock type. He's not exactly easy to beat either." Nurse Joy's eyes darkened when she mentioned Brock, and this didn't go unnoticed by Jenny or Darian, but they felt that they shouldn't ask.

Jenny jumped off the little bed and headed towards the door. "Well thank you very much miss- Nurse Joy, for healing us, but if I'm ever going to beat all the gym leaders and get a Jigglypuff, I'm gonna have to hurry up and beat this Brock dude. So g'bye, and I'll talk to you when I have his gym badge in my hand.

She waltzed out, and Darian hopped up to go after her, shooting an apologetic look at Nurse Joy. She laughed confusedly and motioned him out. Beat all the gym leaders, _then _get a Jigglypuff? What a strange pair of trainers. Were they even aware that she still had their Pokemon?

"Are you even aware that Nurse Joy still has our Pokemon?" Darian asked when he caught up with Jenny in the lobby.

"Uhm…. Of course! I was just going to use the video phones to call my mother. Maybe she'll send us some money for new clothes." Jenny scoffed, turning on her heel to face him. She giggled. "You look like a mummy." she motioned broadly to the bandages on his arms, legs, and even his face. That may have been her fault. She had slapped him several times when he had annoyed her over the trip, and her nails were awfully sharp.

"And you look like a white ninja," he said, motioning to the bandages covering her arms and legs. "If you're going to call your mother, hurry up. We're starting to get some looks, and I want to get out of this city fast… Jenny?"

Jenny probably hadn't heard a thing he had said. Despite the looks they were in fact getting from the other trainers, Jenny's eyes were fixed on a spot next to Nurse Joy's counter.

Darian turned around and immediately understood what Jenny was so intent on. Next to Nurse Joy's counter was a young man sitting in a chair. Sitting on that young man's lap, happily jumping up and down, was a Jigglypuff.

"Jenny… just leave it be." Darian said warily, "It's not yours, and you'll just make a spectacle of yourself if you steal it." He stepped in front of her, blocking the sight of the Jigglypuff.

Jenny merely stepped to the side. She tugged on Darian's sleeve slowly and pointed at the Jigglypuff. "But Dairy-boy… I want…"

"Dairy-boy?" Darian asked incredulously, as the same Chansey who had taken their Pokemon earlier danced up to them and handed Darian the two Pokeballs. He took them and thanked the Chansey, who just hopped off.

At least he had the pokeballs back. If he could somehow get Jenny out of her creepy trance and onto the city streets, they would most likely be able to stay away long enough for that young man to leave.

Darian looked at Jenny again, who was still staring. The chances of talking her out of it calmly were slim to none. His only probable solution was to carry her out. She looked pretty light, so he could probably take her, even though the looks from the other trainers would be endless if he did.

Darian couldn't think of any other course of action, so he braced himself, storing the pokeballs in his backpack.

With a loud yell that broke Jenny out of her trance, he charged her, picked her up, slung her over his shoulders and ran out of the Pokemon center, while the whole time Jenny was screaming, "I want a Jigglypuff!", much to the amusement of the several trainers who had been watching the newbies squabble in the middle of the center.

Darian ran through the streets, turning every which way in an attempt to get them lost in the city. He ignored the suspicious glances, and he ignored Jenny's fists hitting his back. Her excuses for him letting her go ranged from "I just wanted to look!" to "I do still have to call my mother!" but Darian ran until he couldn't breathe anymore. He collapsed in front of a stone building with glass windows and doors, and Jenny fell on top of him. Surprisingly, instead of brashly running off to find the trainer with the Jigglypuff, Jenny remained content to simply sit on his back, scolding him on the problems with kidnapping people.

"I wasn't going to do anything!" she insisted. "I just wanted to look and maybe-sorta-kinda-possibly-trade-Saur-and-if-that-didn't-work-steal-it-and-make-a-run-for-it."

Darian didn't seem to hear the second half of what was just said, because he didn't react. Alarmed, Jenny hopped off of him and examined him closely. As soon as she jumped off, Darian took a huge breath and gasped. "Couldn't… breathe! Almost…died…" he rasped melodramatically.

"I apologize," Jenny said shortly, folding her arms, "But you shouldn't have kidnapped me. It's not nice."

"Stealing Pokemon isn't nice either." Darian stated grimly, rolling onto his back and sitting up. "However, I can scold you after both of us get a gym badge. Look where we are."

Jenny looked up at the stone building she had been dropped in front of, her mouth gaping. They were sitting in front of Pewter City's Gym. "Well!" she said, hopping up again. "I guess one good thing came out of all this. We'll get our gym badges!" She marched right up to the door, and knocked loudly.

"Uhm… Jenny… It's a Gym. You can just walk in, you know?"

"Oh… yes, of course." She reached for the door, but a man from the other side opened it before she could.

The man looked down at them, even though Jenny was standing up. He blinked, though it was hard to tell, because his eyes were already kind of squinty. "Did you kids need something?" he asked kindly.

Jenny puffed up her chest. "We're not kids! Well… he is, but I'm not!" she pointed at Darian, "And we're here to challenge the gym! Can you show us to the gym leader, please? What's his name? Smock?"

The man squinted more, if that were possible. "Sure. Come on in." he said, turning and walking inside.

Jenny followed the man a few steps before looking back at Darian, whose mouth was hanging open stupidly.

"What's wrong with you?" she hissed. "Come on!" Darian, getting the message, stood up and stumbled after them. They trailed after the man, who was striding quickly down a rock tunnel. Jenny noted with interest that the inside of the gym was made of stone too. Darian still had his mouth open. "What's your problem?" she asked again.

"You just… back sassed Brock!"

"Oh. That's Brock? I expected someone scarier."

"You don't care that you _back sassed _Brock?" Darian asked, looking a Jenny with a sort of annoyance as they walked into a huge chamber that was considerably brighter, and also made of stone. Jenny leaned over and whispered to Darian.

"This place didn't look nearly so big on the outside. Is it magic?" Her words, meant only for Darian and herself, echoed and reverberated off the walls of the chambers, allowing Brock to hear every word said.

He laughed loudly, causing the two children to flinch. "Nope, no magic. You're just crazy." he said as he reached his end of a vast, rocky battlefield and whirled to face them. His already tan skin seemed darker in this light, almost blending in with the rock around him. "Now, you wanted a battle?"

Jenny blinked, taken aback. "Right here? Just like that?"

Brock nodded. "If you don't mind battling 'Smock'. We'll have the battle right here." he grinned widely.

"But don't you need a referee?" Darian piped up from behind them.

"Oh yes! I almost forgot!" Brock smacked his forehead. "NICK!" he shouted loudly.

A young-looking, petite blonde came walking out from a set of double doors behind Brock, and Brock's eyes popped out visibly.

"Y-you're not N-nick!" Brock stuttered, staring at what Jenny was fairly sure were not the woman's eyes.

"Yes, I'm Karen." The woman said timidly, stepping onto the referee box. "Nick called in sick today, so I had to substitute. I hope you don't mind…?"

"No, not at all!" Brock gushed. "With such a pretty lady like you, how could anyone mind?"

Jenny rolled her eyes and got Saur's pokeball from Darian's backpack. She stepped into the white lines marking the trainer's box and tapped her foot impatiently. "Can we get this over with already?"

"Yes, yes of course." Brock said, waving his arms at her. "If the lovely Karen would do the honors, then we can get this show on the road." Brock continued to stare at a place on Karen where he really shouldn't be.

"Alright." She turned to Jenny. "How many Pokemon do you have?"

"Er…one." she said shyly.

"Okay. This will be a one-on-one battle, and the trainer shall go first. The first Pokemon to faint is the loser, or something like that. Battle begin!"

Jenny threw Saur's pokeball, and Brock called out his Onix, still staring at Karen.

Ten minutes later, both Jenny and Darian were looking at their shiny new badges. "That was too easy…" Jenny said hesitantly.

"Yeah I know." Darian said flatly. "Brock couldn't take his eyes off that Karen lady the whole time. I'm sure other gyms will be harder to beat."

"Well, hey… a badge is a badge! We can go see the Jigglypuff now!"

"I don't think that's such a good idea!" he exclaimed, but Jenny was already racing in the direction she thought the Pokemon center was. He sighed and ran after her.

**There. Sufficiently NOT cliffy, yes? I hope so, because it took me awhile to figure out how to write that!**

**Anyways, please review! Jenny wants a Jigglypuff and since reviews are like Jigglypuffs… Click the poor, neglected button!**


	6. Shopping and Angry Mothers

**Hello again! Wow, okay I promise not to call the review button neglected anymore. You guys are great! Special thanks to my new reviewers: Sorafrosty, I really appreciate your review, and yes, I am having fun! Mystery umbreon, I'm glad you like it! I try. Anyways, if you're wondering why I didn't update yesterday, I'll say it here and on my profile. I can't update Saturdays, holidays, or days when I'm away for necessary things (like band leadership camp, I'm section leader! Woo!)**

**Alright, I don't own Pokemon, though I sincerely wish I did. And if I did, you guys wouldn't have to disclaim either!**

After a couple of hours of complaining, and blaming Darian for being lost, Jenny finally "found" the Pokemon center. In truth, Darian asked somebody for directions and Jenny overheard, running down the correct streets with Darian in tow.

"We're here! We're finally here Darian!" Jenny exclaimed as they walked through the doors, acting as though it had been the ambition of their lives to reach this very Pokemon center. Surprisingly, a few of the trainers from earlier were still here, and while some of them immediately started giggling, one of them actually approached Jenny, who had marched triumphantly up to the counter, handing Nurse Joy Saur's pokeball, and showing off her shiny badge.

"You two are back it seems." The boy smirked. Well, "boy" was used loosely, because the person in question was older than Jenny by a lot of years. If she had to guess, she would say about seventeen. He was dressed in all black, and he had spiky black hair, which made his disarmingly green eyes stick out, even though they were half-lidded, either from force of habit, or boredom. There were many piercings in his ears and nose.

Jenny instinctively shrunk back from the Goth. He was scarier than Saur. "Yes, we are." she squeaked, to the boy's amusement. "Did you need something?"

"Oh nothing," the boy said offhandedly, "You just… caused quite a commotion back there and a couple of my friends and I were wondering where you went. I guessed the psychiatric institution."

"A what?" Jenny asked, unfamiliar with the big words. Darian, who had walked up behind them after chatting with another trainer, bristled.

"In other words, the crazy house." Darian said, glaring at the boy.

"Woah, chill. I just wanted to know where you guys went." he said, holding his hands up innocently.

"None of your business, but if it was, we would tell you that we won gym badges." Darian said, still glaring.

Jenny watched this whole exchange, glancing back and forth as if she were watching a tennis match. She sensed the tension and decided to make her leave.

"I just…remembered that I have to… call my mother!" she said pointedly, hurrying towards the videophones.

She rushed up to a green box and dialed her mother's number. However, when her mother picked up, she did not reply in the way Jenny expected.

"WHERE THE HECK* HAVE YOU BEEN?" her mother screamed, somehow loud enough for all the center to hear and fall silent, even though she wasn't on speaker.

"Mama, could you-"

"DON'T YOU 'MAMA' ME! YOU'VE BEEN MISSING FOR A WEEK! A WEEK! A WHOLE WEEK AND YOU DIDN'T CALL ME! YOU DIDN'T ANSWER YOUR PHONE! FOR ALL I KNEW, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN DEAD!"

Ariel Sage seemed to be getting more hysterical by the minute, and even though it humiliated Jenny, the rest of the center, even Nurse Joy, was captivated. Some people even had popcorn, for some strange reason.

"Mama…" she tried again weakly, but to no avail.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO CALL ME ONCE YOU GOT TO VIRIDIAN? DIDN'T I? AND JUDGING FROM THE LOOKS OF THAT SHABBY CENTER YOU'RE IN RIGHT NOW, THAT'S DEFINITELY NOT VIRIDIAN!"

The center collectively groaned, and Nurse Joy clutched her hand to her heart as if mortally wounded. Jenny felt like dying.

"Well, I-"

"WHERE ARE YOU ANYWAY? I'M COMING TO GET YOU! IF YOU CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THIS SMALL RESPONSIBILITY, THEN THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GOING ON THIS JOURNEY! AND IF YOU THINK-"

"MAMA! I got a gym badge…"

This derailed Jenny's mother, even though her volume somehow mystically stayed the same. "Oh really? Sweetie that's great! From whom?"

"Brock." She said, and thankfully, people around her started to lose some interest.

"YOU'RE IN PEWTER CITY?" Just like that, the popcorn munchers were back.

"Yes Mama, I-love-you-Oh!-look-at-the-time-I-have-to-go-call-you-when-I-get-to-Cerulean-by-the-way-I-lost-my-phone-bye." With that, Jenny hung up, rather forcefully, whirling on her heel and facing towards the rest of the center.

"What?" Jenny asked, to a couple of giggles. "Never had an angry mother?"

"I think we all have. Just… not ones who were so public." Nurse Joy said, and most of the people nodded agreement as they turned back to whatever they had been doing.

Jenny, still blushing, walked back over to Darian and the Goth, who had resumed arguing.

"What kind of name is Farrkquad anyway?" Darian was asking.

"A good one. One that defies convention and shows originality and unwillingness to conform." the Goth said calmly.

"You two still at it? I mean really now! And do you have to use such big words?" Jenny said, trying to sound confident.

"Fine with me," Farrkquad said, "I just wanted to know how his weakling Charmander beat an Onix. Even if Brock was distracted, that seems almost impossible."

"Because, if you must know, Darian didn't fight an Onix; he fought a Geodude. Char is really strong, and to say Brock was distracted would be implying that he was still able to fight! He couldn't stop looking at Karen's-"

"Hey now! That Geodude was just as strong as the Onix! You just had a type advantage with Saur!"

Farrkquad laughed. "So that's how. Chill little dude, I just wanted to know. Coulda told me, and I'd of been off your case." he sauntered off to where his gothy friends sat. "Besides," he called over his shoulder. "My Koffing and I totally beat Brock without him being _distracted._"

"I don't like that boy. At all." Darian stated, crossing his arms.

"Me neither." Jenny agreed. She sighed. "I wish we had some money."

Darian turned to her. "Random much?"

"Well, you know what they say! Shopping is very therapying- I think that's the word, and we only have one outfit each, both of which are totally destroyed right now."

"And whose fault is that?'

"Shut up." Jenny slapped him over the head. "Help me think of ways to make money."

Nurse Joy, who had -not- been listening from the counter hoping for another entertaining incident, spoke up. "You could always battle for money. Besides, didn't Brock give you money for winning?"

Jenny looked at Darian, who smiled sheepishly. "Well, I figured that if you knew, you would go off and spend it on the first shiny thing you saw. I guess we could spend it on clothes, since we need them so badly."

The only thing that stopped Jenny from hitting Darian again was her joy at the prospect of shopping, so instead, she asked Nurse Joy for directions to the nearest clothes shop and dragged Darian out the door.

When they walked into the 'Chic Jynx' , money in hand, they were immediately assaulted by several salespeople. Jenny, obviously experienced at this, glared at them icily and informed them that they already knew what they wanted. The salespeople quickly backed off, sensing a higher power among them.

Jenny then happily skipped off towards a section of the store that was swathed completely in blue, dragging Darian along unwillingly, alarmed by Jenny's unpredictable mood changes.

"We'll need summer AND winter wear, but since we're just launching into summer, we can wait for the winter stuff. Although, I have to have this hoodie now. And these shorts are cute. Oh yeah! I need shoes, I've been walking around all this time sans one shoe. Ooh, I need this shirt!" Just like that, Jenny had three things and was looking for another. Darian was frankly afraid of her shopping efficiency, and didn't even want to know how much experience she had with this. He wandered off to the yellow section, hoping to find something cheap enough and cool enough to match his previous outfit. He agreed with Jenny that the winter wear could wait, so he just walked straight past the gloves and scarves and picked up a pair of yellow shorts. They looked to girly for him however, so he moved on. Half an hour later, he still hadn't found anything, but Jenny had found him. To his surprise, she only had one bag in her hand.

When he asked her about it, she simply said, "There were so many things I wanted, but we don't have enough money." and with that, she rifled through the yellow clothes and picked out a pair of jeans and a yellow and black shirt.

Darian sighed. At least Jenny had learned moderation.

"Stay here." Jenny said, and she handed him her bag and dove into the rack of clothes. Seconds later, before he had a chance to look in the bag and see what she had bought, she was back out with the exact same clothes, only a size larger.

"Here," she said throwing the clothes at his head, "And don't look in there, you'll go blind."

He laughed and picked up a pair of yellow tennis shoes, but Jenny was already walking towards the register. "Hurry up Slowpoke!" she called back.

Darian wasn't sure he liked the monster shopping made Jenny become, but he followed anyway. At the register, he was shocked by the amount of money all his clothes cost, but Jenny seemed to take it in stride.

"Relax!" she said. "We'll still have plenty of money to get some food for Saur and Char, as well as us. Apparently, Brock was feeling generous today!"

"She's not kidding, buddy boy." the girl at the counter said. "Usually he gives out about two thirds of this. What did you guys do?"

"He was probably preoccupied with the substitute referee," Jenny said casually, "I think he likes her."

"Sounds like Brock," the girl nodded knowingly, "He likes to think he's a ladies man. Well, you two got some stylin' outfits thanks to him, so at least it did something productive. Enjoy your day." she handed Darian's bags to him, and the two thanked her and walked out onto the streets.

"Jenny…" Darian said hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Why did that girl have rainbow hair?"

**And this chapter is complete! What'd you guys think? Wait, don't stalk me or anything to personally tell me, tell me in the reviews! By the way, if there's an * next to a word, it means the word was changed to keep the K rating safe! Must protect it!**

**You know what I'm gonna say, but I'm gonna say it anyway! Reviews are like Jigglypuffs! Don't deny Jenny one! All the cool kids are doing it!**


	7. On the Road to Mt Moon Isn't Catchy

**A/N I can't post for two days because my mother is quite adamant that my homework get done. I'm sorry that I had to leave you on this chapter. So I'll give you a spoiler. Next chapter: Jenny gets a new addition to the team!**

**Ah! I'm back again! What a crazy, random happenstance! Anyways, to all my reviewers, I love you. Thanks to my new reviewers, misty4ever and Raven Wolfcall, I really appreciate you! And uh…misty? I'm gonna be honest with you and my other reviewers. I…*gulp* don't edit. Don't kill me! I frequently reread my chapters after I've posted them, and if I see a mistake, I fix it, but I don't edit. **

**Secondly, Farrkquad's name was based off of Shrek, but simply because I don't like the character and decided to torture him by naming him after an arrogant midget.**

**That is all! And, of course, I OWN POKEMON! No, no, I was just kidding. Don't sue! I don't own it.**

Jenny and Darian walked the grueling journey back to the Pokemon Center -a staggering distance of one block- talking about where they were going to go next. Darian voted back to Viridian, even though neither of them wanted to walk through that forest. There was a gym in Viridian, and they still owed money to Sarah.

Jenny, however, argued east towards Mt. Moon and Cerulean City. She didn't want to pay any money to anyone, and there was a gym in Cerulean City too.

"You just want to go because there are Jigglypuff around Mt. Moon!" Darian accused as they walked in the doors of the center for the third time that day.

Jenny stopped in her tracks. "There are _what_ around Mt. Moon?" she asked, her eyes widening. Darian groaned, realizing his mistake. If Jenny hadn't known that, then maybe he could've convinced her to go back to Viridian. Considering the recent event that led them to Brock's gym however, Darian knew that there was no way Jenny was going to back down now.

"Oh, nothing," he said flippantly, "There's nothing around Mt. Moon, in fact, don't listen to me. I am clinically insane. I'm a pathological liar. I can't control what I say!"

Jenny just shook her head, grinning. "You said there were _Jigglypuff _around Mt. Moon. You know what that means, right?"

"We go to Viridian?"

"Nope! We change into our new, spiffy clothes, get something to eat, and we go to Mt. Moon! It's decided."

"Do we have to?"

"Yes. I want a Jigglypuff."

"Please?"

"No, it's already decided. Let's go."

Darian got a feeling in his stomach that said "listen to the crazy if you want to live" and he sighed. He trudged to the bathroom and changed into his clothes. When he walked out, of course, Jenny was there waiting in her new blue hoodie and blue running shorts.

"Spiffy. Let's go." she grabbed him by the arm, the rough fabric on her blue gloves scratching through the bandages that were still there, even though the bandages on his face were somehow lost. She dragged him to Nurse Joy, who noted with amusement that their outfits almost matched.

"Nurse Joy, I don't mean to be a burden," Jenny said sweetly, clapping a hand over Darian's mouth before he could say anything, "but could I ask you again for directions?"

"Sure… Where do you need to go?" Nurse Joy said hesitantly, trying not to comment on the struggle Darian was making to regain the use of his mouth.

"Well, we're headed to Mt. Moon, and we're not exactly sure where it is. Could you point us in that direction?"

"Well sure," Nurse Joy said. "Just exit the Pokemon center, turn left when you walk out and follow that street till it ends. Take another left until _that_ street ends. Then turn right and just keep following the path. Right before Mt. Moon, there should be another Pokemon center. I'd suggest stopping there. If you're lucky enough, she'll have a map through Mt. Moon, because you'll need it."

"Thanks Nurse Joy," Darian, who had gained back usage of his mouth while she was talking, mumbled.

"No problem!" Nurse Joy said brightly, "Thank you for staying here. You've been… rather entertaining to all of us. I'll tell my cousin to keep an eye out for you two."

And just like that, Darian was forcibly dragged against his will, without anything to eat, out of Pewter City. Once they were out on the route proper, Jenny paused to release Saur, and Darian released Char. Jenny spun around with her hands above her head like a ballerina, modeling her new outfit before turning to the Pokemon. "What do you think?" she asked, as if she expected the answer to be "Fabulous dahling" instead of a Pokemon's name.

Char clapped his paws together politely, but was clearly preoccupied with a pretty flower on the ground next to Darian's feet. Saur just Vine Whipped Jenny's leg.

"Ow! Terrible devil spawn! Who asked you anyway?" Saur tilted her head to the side, clearly mocking Jenny. "Oh right… I did… well, forget you!"

Darian laughed. "I think it's payback for dragging us out of the city with no food." Saur's mouth hung open, and her eyes went blank in disbelief. Then, she whipped Jenny again.

"OW! Stop doing that!" Jenny said, swatting at her legs to keep away the whip. "I want a Jigglypuff, so we're going to wander around here until we find one. Food can be your reward." Darian sighed, Char didn't seem to care, and Saur whipped Jenny. Again.

"For the love of Mew. One day, I swear, I will grow immune to your attacks. Then what will you do?" Saur just grinned her evil, death grin.

Darian looked at the two. "Can we just get looking? My poor stomach is already growling!"

"Oh, cry me a river." Jenny grumbled, but she stuck her hands in her hoodie pocket and started walking down the path, looking every which way for her precious Jigglypuff.

Darian shrugged and followed, with Saur and Char following him. Jenny was a force to be reckoned with, but sometimes one could negotiate with her.

After only an hour of looking, Jenny sat down in the middle of the path, groaning. "I'm tired, Darian. I'm hungry and tired, and we're never going to find a Jigglypuff. After all, look at all this tall grass!" she motioned to the long, flat fields of green grass that came up to their waist when they were in the midst of it. The plains had no trees to speak of, which left Mt. Moon's silhouette clear and blue against the horizon. "It's like trying to find one needle in five haystacks combined!"

"Hey!" Darian said, "I'm sure there's more than _one _needle in all those haystacks! I mean, just look at all the ridges we have to climb to get to Mt. Moon! Surely there's at least one of those ridges that's hiding a Jigglypuff." Darian held out his hand to her, offering to help her up. Jenny just glared at the hand.

"We're going to starve." Jenny said glumly.

"That may or may not be true. How about we just start climbing towards Mt. Moon, and we'll see if there are any Jigglypuffs on the way? We can make our primary focus getting to the Pokemon center alive."

Jenny was about to disagree, but just then, her stomach growled loudly, doing all the talking. "Fine." she said unhappily, taking Darian's hand and jumping up. "Let's go."

The path was pretty cut-and-dried straight, so they were able to follow that for a couple of hours before arriving at the first ridge that was too tall to jump up on. Until that point, Jenny had been getting gradually more cheerful, even to the point where one time, she ran off the path, swirling her arms around and singing loudly about hills and music. At that point, all Darian's suspicions about her being crazy were confirmed.

However, 'cheerful' Jenny was gone the second they came upon that ridge. "I can't climb that." she said flatly. Darian, who had latched his hands to the top and was beginning to pull himself up, looked at her.

"Of course you can!" he said. "If I can, you can."

"Don't be ridiculous!" she hissed, "You're abnormally tall for a ten-year-old! You're what, five foot nine?"

"Five foot ten."

"What ever! My point is that you're tall, and I'm short! I'm _four_ foot ten. I can't even reach the top!"

Saur, who had watched silently over the last few hours, shook her head. She wrapped both of her vines around Jenny and catapulted her up onto the ridge. She then did the same with Darian and Char, only more gently with the two of them. Then, she held out her whip expectantly until Char got the hint and pulled her up.

"Wow. Way to problem-solve Saur!" Darian said, "Can you do that with the next one too?" Saur nodded indignantly, as if to say "of course", and Jenny mumbled an unenthused thank-you.

And so, Saur was the solution to their ridge problems. At each new higher level, they would spend a couple of minutes looking for a Jigglypuff, then move on. Each new ridge came closer and closer together, the first two being an hour apart, then half an hour, then fifteen minutes, until eventually they had to repeat the process every minute, and Jenny gave up hope of ever finding a Jigglypuff. In fact, it was on this route that Darian began to assume that Jenny was bipolar. Each time they got over a new ridge, she would be all smiles and hilly music, looking energetically around, expecting a Jigglypuff to materialize. As they got close to the new ridge, Jenny would fall silent, acting gloomy and depressed, like a child.

As the sun started to set, Jenny got the feeling that the next ridge they climbed would be the one to lead them to the Pokemon center and onto Mt. Moon. She noticed the atmosphere getting calmer, more peaceful as Pokemon started to settle down for the night. Trees had slowly appeared as they had gotten higher, and several bird Pokemon were flying back to them now.

At one point, when half of the sun was under the horizon, the clouds turned a deep shade of pink, making the already orange and red sky prettier. Jenny turned back for a second, and inhaled sharply. Darian, Saur, and Char, who had gotten a little bit ahead, turned back to see what was wrong, and inhaled just as sharply.

Nothing was wrong. In fact, the sight before them made it seem impossible for anything to ever be wrong ever again.

They had climbed quickly and with purpose, not realizing how high they had climbed. From the point they were standing now, they could see forever. Vast expanses of green went on into the horizon, and they could see everywhere they had been since then. Staring directly into the huge orb the sun had become, they could see Pewter City, sparkling and glinting in the distance, like a jewel. To the left a little bit, separated by a forest Jenny knew from experience was huge, but seemed miniscule, sat Viridian. It looked prettier than Pewter, more civilized, and the buildings reflected every hue of color that the sun sent their way.

Rivers cut through the land, glittering white and shifting continuously. Jenny could see Pallet Town from there, and she wondered what Professor Oak was doing. She could see the ocean that the river behind Pallet led into, and tiny little specks flew through the air around Cinnabar and its volcano, which were dots Jenny had to squint really hard to see. Saffron and Celadon City were both visible as well, with Celadon's department store standing taller than any other buildings she could see. She sighed deeply, marveling at the beauty of it all. If Jenny had been in a movie or something, she figured that this would be the part where the movie played a soft melody featuring a triangle and some chimes. Where it went real slow and made the audience feel both blown away and sad at the same time. It was just so peaceful…

"I want to live here when I retire," Jenny breathed, and Darian voiced his agreement. It took Jenny all she had to look away and continue onwards, after all they were in desperate need of food, and Jenny figured that the Pokemon center had all they were looking for, save a Jigglypuff. They climbed the last ridge, proving Jenny's theory correct, and risked one last look at the beautiful panorama before walking inside the Pokemon center, and subsequently, towards food.

**Ahhh. I love that visual in my head, the one of the panorama? Oh my gosh, I feel so bad for saying this, but I've fallen in love with something of my creation! Oh well, seems Jenny didn't find her Jigglypuff this chapter. Maybe next time Jenny! Chin up! **

**What did you guys think of the 'hilly music'? Most of you should get the reference I hope! Anyways, tell me what you thought of this chapter in the reviews!**

**By the way! If you can come up with a song that accurately describes what Jenny's song would've been at the panorama, I'll credit you in the next chapter!**

**Finally, I leave you with a message. Jenny is holding your coolness hostage, and if you wish to get it back, click that little review button down there. Click it and no one gets hurt.**


	8. Apologies and Rockets

**Oh my gosh, you guys! I'm so sorry that I couldn't post! I really, really wanted to post, but yesterday I wasn't near a computer, and the day before I had a "homework day" as my mother calls it. I apologize! But hey, I'm back! *sheepish smile* So now for thanks! Thanks to my new reviewers DesecratedPharoah and SorakoShabon! **

**Answers to reviews: Jigglypuff actually surround Mt. Moon, they're not in it. And if Jenny found a Jigglypuff now, her whole goal would be done, she'd quit, and where would my story be? I have to wait until I can get her goal to change. She's getting a new addition this time, and Saur and Char will evolve when I say so! *Evil smile***

**As usual, my goal of owning Pokemon has not yet been realized, so don't sue me!**

When Jenny and Darian walked into Mt. Moon's Pokemon center, they were thankfully not set upon, but there was no one there. Not even the Nurse Joy.

"Hello?" Darian called through the silence. A muffled cry of acknowledgement came from the back regions of the Pokemon center, and seconds later, an all too familiar girl came running out, panting slightly and putting her hands on her knees. Jenny inhaled sharply, searching her pockets and finding only a little money there. She dove behind Darian, using him as a human shield.

"Nurse Joy said to tell you that we're all having dinner in the back," said Sarah, still looking at the floor, "You came at a really awkward-" she broke off, looking at them for the first time. "Well if it isn't Darian and Jennifer!" she smiled.

"It's Jenny!" Jenny spat, "And how did you see me?"

"You were hiding behind a human!" Sarah laughed, "Anyone short of blind could have seen you!"

"Well… How did you get here so fast?"

"After about a day at Viridian, I decided you had backed out on the bet, and I went on ahead. I have a gym badge!" she explained, holding out her shiny Pewter badge.

"We didn't back out! We got lost!" Darian protested, but Sarah only laughed again. "Besides, we got Pewter badges too! Why don't you have the Viridian one?"

"Because it's the eighth gym in the circuit, dummy! No one as inexperienced as us could do it!" She said, a little more hostilely than necessary. "Besides! Back to the real issue, you owe me 50 poke!"

Nurse Joy came out, with a few crumbs on her face. "Sarah," she asked, "did you get the newcomers back? I'm sure they're starving!"

"They're heathens!" Sarah said, "They don't deserve food!

She looked at the confrontation, confused, before she looked at Darian and Jenny, seemingly recognizing them. She clapped her hands together happily. "Hey! You're the trainers my cousin told me about! You're already causing a commotion! How exciting!"

"Exciting is a way to put it," Jenny mumbled, but luckily, her stomach growled louder than her.

Nurse Joy laughed. "Well I was right! You are starving!" she clapped happily again, confusing the heck out of Jenny and Darian. She was definitely different from her cousin in Pewter.

"Well, come on you three!" she said imperiously, "Your Pokemon are probably starving and hurt too. We're just finishing up dinner!"

Jenny and Darian eagerly complied, and Sarah groaned, but all of them followed her to the back. A long dinner table sat in the room, and several trainers sat there, their Pokemon at their sides, chatting and eating. They all glanced at the newcomers, and Jenny recognized at least one trainer from the Pewter center-mainly because of her short silver hair- and wondered how exactly everyone got there before them. They sat in the only seats left, released Saur and Char, and ate their food in silence, ignoring Nurse Joy's obvious desire for them to cause another 'funny' commotion.

After finishing the food, by some mysterious signal, everyone stood up at the same time. They all looked at each other in confusion before laughing and retreating to their rooms for the night. Nurse Joy examined their Pokemon, and determined that all they needed was rest. She then examined Jenny and Darian, and told them to keep their bandages on for a couple more days, much to their dismay. Then, she showed them their rooms, bidding them good night and rushing off to her own rooms.

The room they were given was plain and white, with two even whiter beds on each side of the room. There was a small cupboard next to each bed, and they stored their backpacks there. With no clothes to change into, they simply flopped onto their beds.

"I feel like we're in a real crazy house," Jenny said.

"Yeah, it's weird. I expected Pokemon centers to be more welcoming, you know?"

"Yup. I liked Viridian forest better."

"Jenny! That's drastic! The forest was terrible."

Jenny rolled over, trying to find a comfortable position and failing. The bed was too lumpy. "Meh. Maybe a little. G'night Dairy-boy."

"There you go with the 'Dairy-boy' thing again! Why do you say that?" Darian demanded, but he got no answer. He sighed deeply, frustrated.

In five minutes, his frustration was apparently gone however, as he was snoring too loudly for Jenny to get to sleep. Why did he choose to snore now? He hadn't done that in the forest! Jenny considered throwing something at his head, but instead she sat up and grabbed her backpack -intending to use it as a pillow- and snuck quietly outside. It was dark, but there was just the right amount of noise, so Jenny wasn't scared. She chunked her 'pillow' against the wall of the center, and laid down, feeling much more relaxed.

As soon as her eyes closed though, she heard a distant shriek coming from inside the cave entrance. She jumped up, startled, as the scream echoed again. It didn't sound human. It seemed to get closer, followed by more human shouts. She ran to the cave's mouth with her backpack, as a small yellow Pokemon ran out screaming, attaching itself to her leg and hiding behind her.

Two men dressed all in black with black hats and gloves and boots, with a giant red 'R' on the front of their black shirts, ran out shouting. They nearly collided with Jenny.

"Hey! Watch it!" One man said.

The other noticed the shivering Pokemon at her feet. "Give us that Pokemon, brat!"

Jenny folded her arms, looking down at the yellow thing. It whimpered. "It's scared of you. I'm not giving it back. Who are you anyway?"

"We're the Neo-Rockets! Give him back!" the man on the right said.

"No! He's got bruises!" She shrieked angrily at the suspicious men, as several trainers, Darian, and Nurse Joy, ran out of center.

"Shoot!" The man cried. "More people!"

Several trainers released their Pokemon, and Jenny released Saur. Among them were a Venonat, an Arbok, Sarah's Squirtle, Char, an Abra, a Pidgeotto, and a Persian.

The men backed up slowly and ran, and the Arbok and Pidgeotto trainers ran after them. The small Pokemon still clung to Jenny's leg as the rest clustered around Jenny.

"What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"Why were the Rockets attacking you?"

"Is your Sandshrew okay?"

"What were you doing out here?"

"Where's my money?"

Jenny was starting to get a headache, and the "Sandshrew" had cut off circulation to her left leg. "QUIET!" she screamed.

Surprisingly, everyone fell quiet. "I'll tell the whole story later to anyone who wants to hear. Yes, I'm okay, but this poor Pokemon has a death grip on my leg! Those men weren't Rockets, those guys disbanded forever ago. These guys were 'Neo-Rockets'. This Sandshrew isn't mine, I've never even seen one before, but I don't think he's okay. He's got bruises. I was trying to sleep out here because my roomie snores. And I don't have your money yet! Get a grip!"

Nurse Joy emerged from the crowd of people, jumping up and down excitedly. "This is so great! Your Sandshrew can get healed up in no time, and now I have an exciting story to tell the other Nurse Joys! They thought your Pewter adventure was cool! Mine is better!"

The crowd dispersed as soon as Jenny promised to tell the whole story in the morning. Darian, Sarah, Nurse Joy, and Jenny were the only ones left outside.

"Uh… Nurse Joy. This isn't my Sandshrew." she said, shaking her leg. The Sandshrew whimpered again, clutching her leg tighter. She stopped quickly. "And why do you have to tell this story? Darian and I don't wanna be known for any funny business."

"Awww." Nurse Joy groaned, leaning down to examine the Sandshrew that had a death grip on Jenny's bandaged legs. "I wanted a cool story."

"Jenny," Darian said, "I think the Sandshrew objects to the statement you made about him not being yours." He motioned to the Sandshrew, who was looking up at Jenny adoringly.

"But… I have Saur." Saur huffed, and whipped Jenny, walking up to the Sandshrew and starting up a Pokemon conversation.

"I think Saur wants the Sandshrew to go with us. Listen to your Pokemon. She knows." Darian nodded sagely.

Jenny looked down at the two, and they really seemed to get along, even though Sandshrew STILL wouldn't let go of her leg.

Nurse Joy spoke up. "Well your Sandshrew's going to be just fine, but we'll need to give it some bandages to match you. He's just a baby, so treat him well."

Jenny threw up her hands in defeat. "It seems my mind's been made up for me. Now I just have to give you a name and a Pokeball." She pointed at the Sandshrew, who jumped off her leg happily and jumped higher to hug her around the waist. She laughed. "Well what should I call you? Preferably something with one syllable. Gots to be catchy, you know."

Nurse Joy jumped up, excited again. "Ooh! I love naming! How about Andrew?"

Sarah laughed. "I think she said one syllable, Nurse Joy." She seemed a lot nicer when not addressing Jenny.

"No, no! Andrew's good! I can call him Drew for short!" Jenny said hurriedly, eager to contradict anything Sarah said.

"Yay! I win!" Nurse Joy cheered, as Jenny pulled out a Pokeball that she had nicked from Professor Oak's lab while she had been running around. She pushed the button and a beam of white light enveloped the Sandshrew. The ball didn't even shake once before there was a small 'ding'. Drew was now officially hers. She picked the ball and promptly re-released him. He landed on Saur with a squeal, but she surprisingly made no move to push him off.

"Shrew!" He said, pointing a tiny claw at Jenny. Saur laughed, and Jenny could only hope they hadn't been making fun of her. Saur was already corrupting him!

As the two socialized, Sarah and Nurse Joy went inside, while Darian and Jenny decided to sleep outside. He released Char again, and the three Pokemon curled up between their humans. Drew demanded to sleep in the crook of Jenny's arm, Saur just pushed herself into the wall by Jenny's head, and Char, a few feet away, nestled against Darian's stomach. Jenny fell asleep to the sounds of the Pokemon laughing.

In the morning, Jenny told her story, and many of the trainers seemed outraged with the Neo-Rockets, and everyone suddenly developed the urge to cuddle Drew. Not that Drew minded, but Jenny had wanted to bond with her Sandshrew. The silver haired trainer from Pewter managed to get a hold of Drew, and kindly handed him back to Jenny, who held him tightly while the Pidgeotto and Arbok trainers spoke of the chase through Mt. Moon and how the Rockets eventually escaped, but not without many bruises to make up for Drew's injuries. Few people were worried about the Neo-Rockets, but Nurse Joy still phoned the Cerulean and Pewter Officer Jennies. The story time was over, and many trainers headed out. Some were headed to Pewter, and bemoaned the ridges they would have to climb down, but most of them were headed through Mt. Moon.

As they left, Nurse Joy handed the Mt. Moon trainers maps, waving them off cheerily. Sarah went up to Jenny and Darian.

"It was just coincidence that we met here. If I let you two go without getting my money, we may never see each other again. There is no way that's happening, so from now on I'm traveling with you all. Until I get my money, that is."

"What? No way!" Jenny said.

"Can't stop it, Jennifer."

"It's Jenny! And there's no way that you're coming with us. Our team is full. No vacancies!" She turned and walked off, grabbing a map from Nurse Joy. Darian sighed apologetically and ran after her.

"It's not that easy to get rid of me!" Sarah yelled, running after them. Jenny started running, and eventually, they were all running away from each other and straight into Mt. Moon.

**Oh em gee! Two new characters on the team? Anyways. I still have to apologize for not posting yesterday. I'm sorry! I love you all, and I hope you return the favor!**

**Tell me what you think in the reviews! Especially about Drew! I need to know how to get better!**


	9. Surprise Surprise!

**I am back! And *checks watch* right on time this time! Hooray! Thanks to my new reviewers The Warrior of Many Faces and dogperson13, you guys rock! Also, just in case my other reviewers didn't know, you rock too! Silver Don, I'll try to make the chapters longer, but I write a whole new chapter everyday. None of it's prewritten, so longer chapters might make my head asplode. Alex999139, you caught me! All the Nurse Joys shall have different personalities. And Warrior of Many Faces, that's what I was going for with the Lt. Surge thing, but I don't know what Pokemon to give Darian to help him beat Misty.**

**Disclaimer: By this time, I think you should know that I don't own Pokemon. If you didn't, you are either very dim, or a lawyer for the Pokemon Corporation. That is all.**

"Guys!" Sarah called, "You're not going to get rid of me like this!"

Darian had been willing to let Sarah come along, but Jenny had been adamant. She tied herself back-to-back with Darian with one of her Escape Ropes, and made him walk forward, navigating. She didn't have to walk, because she had tied herself high enough so that her feet didn't touch the floor. She held Saur in her arms, and every time Jenny thought that Sarah had gotten to close, Saur would Vine Whip her.

"Really now!" Sarah called again, trying to convince them, "All I want is my money! I'm not going to kill you if you don't have it yet!"

"Just give it up, Jenny," Darian pleaded, his back aching from having to haul her all over the place, "She's starting to sound reasonable. "

"Never!" Jenny cried.

"But Jenny, there's the first stairway! You're going to have to get off of me so that we can walk down!" he pointed, but realized Jenny couldn't see, so he turned around.

"Hey!" Jenny protested, "I see the stupid stairs, but what I can't see is the meanie girl! Let me face her! What if she gets too close?"

Darian hadn't thought of that, but now that he had, he decided he was going to stay firmly planted so that Sarah could catch up. After all, half a day of Vine Whips couldn't be healthy for anyone.

Jenny kicked and screamed, trying to get him to turn around, but he was a foot taller than her, so there was no chance of that happening now. Sarah had caught up, and was panting.

"I only ran… that short distance… man, am I out of shape… or what?" She gasped, sitting cross-legged on the floor. When Jenny heard her voice, she resumed kicking the back of Darian's legs, making Sarah laugh and Darian grimace in pain. Darian was really starting to get annoyed. He sat down in front of Sarah, completely eliminating Jenny's kicking weapon.

Before Jenny could use Saur's Vine Whips against them, Darian looked through Jenny's backpack -which she had made him carry- and found Saur's Pokeball. He returned Saur, who was violently protesting, and set Jenny's backpack out of her reach.

"I hate you." She mumbled, "I hate you both."

Darian shrugged, accidentally lifting Jenny up off the floor with his movement. She shrieked, and it hurt his ears, and presumably Sarah's, as it bounced off the rock walls and echoed all around them.

"Don't do that!" Darian hissed. "You can just sit there and be quiet while we find a way to get through here without almost dying, like last time!"

Jenny huffed. "Fine. I don't like 'take-charge-Darian' though. He's mean." She crossed her arms and resigned herself to counting the tiny cracks in the ceiling while Darian and Sarah talked as if they knew everything, much to Jenny's annoyance.

"Well, if the map is correct, we can just look for the ladders or stairs and have a relatively easy trek. After all, there are only a few ladders on each floor, and one of them is a dead end, so we'll get it right eventually." Sarah said, and Darian nodded, "However, there are quite a few Zubats and Geodudes in this cave, and they can get us turned around quite easily. Some people have been known to get stuck in here for a month or more, so keep your eyes on the ladders or stairs."

"Sounds like we'll have plenty of opportunities to train up our Pokemon. Especially Jenny's new Sandshrew. Nurse Joy said he was just a baby." Darian said. Jenny perked up slightly at the sound of her name, but when she realized they didn't want her help, she fell into quiet stiffness again. She traced a portrait of Drew in the dirt. She would show it to him when they got on the road. She was definitely going to start bonding, since she was planning on giving Darian and Sarah the silent treatment.

"That's true." Sarah nodded, "But you need to get yourself a Pokemon too. Either in here, or around Cerulean City, because Misty's a water-type trainer, and you only have a Charmander." Darian was struck by the sudden necessity to get a Pokemon. He hadn't realized that Char wouldn't be able to take Misty. He should have, but he didn't. And there were no Pokemon in Mt. Moon with a type advantage against water, except for Sandshrew, and Sandshrew here didn't know any ground moves at their level. Plus, that would be copying Jenny.

"What are YOU going to do?" Darian asked, eager to get off the uncomfortable subject.

"Easy!" Sarah said smugly, shaking her long hair in front of her face. She seemed to do that a lot. "I'll use Butterscotch."

"Who's Butterscotch?" Darian asked hesitantly, not wanting to seem jealous that everyone had a Pokemon for Misty except him.

Sarah smiled broadly. "You'll see when the time comes. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!" Jenny coughed violently, alarming both Darian and Sarah, until Darian noticed that her coughing sounded suspiciously like "she's a jerk, let's leave her" . Darian just shook his head.

"I think we've got our attack plan down," he said shortly, reaching behind him and clapping a hand over her mouth, "So let's get going,"

He stood up abruptly, and Jenny was up off the floor again. "Wait!" she cried. Darian paused. "Hand me my backpack! I wanna show Drew something!"

"No!" Sarah said, starting to walk off, with Darian following, "You'll just call out Saur again to Whip me. I know you better than you think I do."

"Wait!" Jenny cried again, flailing around, stopping Darian from moving, "I wanna show Drew something! I drew a picture of him, and I wanted him to see!" Tears were starting to come to her eyes, and she sounded desperate. Sarah immediately felt bad, and Darian handed Jenny her backpack as they walked back to the spot. While Jenny was rifling through her bag, Darian and Sarah looked at the drawing. It wasn't bad, considering she had five minutes to draw it, but it wasn't exactly Van Golem quality either. At least it was recognizable as a Sandshrew.

When Jenny released Drew, he first attacked her leg in a fierce hug and desperate attempt to not fall on the ground. She shook her leg a little, and he let go. Then, she pointed to the drawing.

"I drew you!" She said happily, as Drew investigated his likeness. He cooed cheerfully, curling into a ball and rolling around in approval. This elicited a collective group "awww". He popped out of his ball underneath Jenny's feet, grabbed onto her legs and crawled all over her until he reached her head, sitting himself on her shoulder. He pointed his claw at the stairs cutely.

"Shrew!" He said regally, implying that they get a move on. Jenny and Sarah squealed in unison at the cuteness, and if Darian had been facing Shrew, he probably would have too. As it was, Darian and Sarah turned towards the stairs and started walking. Jenny just hugged Drew, who was cooing softly. When Sarah tried to apologize for walking off, Jenny just huffed and held Drew closer. Sarah threw up her hands in defeat as they reached the stairs. Very carefully, they maneuvered down the stairs, trying to avoid Darian falling over under Jenny's weight.

"Why am I still wrapped up against you?" She asked, and Darian shook his head.

"So you don't run off with my money," Sarah said jokingly, but Jenny just glared at her. When they got a few steps away from the stairs, they realized something rather alarming. Looking around, Darian and Sarah exchanged a panicked glance.

"It's dark," Jenny said blatantly. "I can't see, it's dark, let's go back."

"We can't go back now!" Darian said insistently, "We have to get to Cerulean! Besides, this is just another obstacle! We can get through this."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Jenny demanded shrilly.

"Well, we're going to train our Pokemon in here, so we might as well, you know, call them out." Darian said.

With a flash that temporarily lit up the cavern, letting them glimpse the general direction in which they should go, all their Pokemon were out. Saur, Squirtle, and Char all looked at each other, acknowledging that the three starters were in one place again. Drew was put face to face with a Butterfree that Darian assumed was the Butterscotch that Sarah had been talking about. He tilted his head and held out a claw in greeting. Butterscotch took it the claw in its paw, and they shook "hands".

Jenny, however, was attempting to jump for joy. The flame on Char's tail had lit up the cavern enough so that they could see where they were going. It was absolutely great in Jenny's mind, but then again, she and Drew couldn't see what everyone else saw.

As it turned out, the giant flash that had brought light to the cave was beneficial for them, but not for the gigantic swarm of very angry Zubats that had determined them to be the source of the disruption and was now heading their way.

"Holy Magikarp!" Sarah swore as she began to run the other way. However, none of them ran fast enough, and the swarm soon caught up with them.

As a collective group, all the Zubats used Screech, and everyone clapped their hands, claws, or appendages over their ears. Jenny was facing the Zubat, but she was also holding Drew, so she couldn't cover her ears. She writhed in pain until the Zubat stopped and set upon them, Biting and Scratching.

"Squirtle! Use Bubble!" Sarah cried, "Scotch! Use Confusion!" a few Zubats were promptly surrounded by blue lights and became Butterscotch's toys. She threw them around playfully as Jenny and Darian got the hint.

"Char! Use Ember!"

"Saur, use Razor Leaf! Drew… Stay here!" Just like that, every one was fighting, and the cavern was filled with chaos.

Several Zubats were preoccupied with the three starters, who had decided to combine their attacks. Some Zubats were KO'd as an Embubble hit them, and others were taken down by a Razeber. Butterscotch was successfully taking care of the humans, and Drew Scratched any Zubat that got through Butterscotch's defense. Jenny was screaming continuously as the battle went on, and Sarah wasn't doing much better. Darian seemed to be the only one keeping his cool.

"Char! Ember again! Now Metal Claw! That's the trick!" It was hard to fight in the dark, but Char's constant stream of fire was making it easier.

However, Char's constant stream of fire was also making him the prime target for the Zubats' attacks. Saur and Squirtle were still fighting, but Saur was weak against flying types, and Squirtle was confused about what to do without Sarah telling him what to do. Only 2 or 3 Zubats were attacking them; the other fifteen or so were set on Char.

"Char!" Darian screamed. During an Ember attack, a Zubat had snuck up on him from behind. Mew knows how that Zubat had learned the move, but it used Air Cutter, and Char was slammed to the ground. "Char! Get up! Please!" he cried as the Zubat set upon Char, who was laying motionless on the ground.

"Char! Come on, get up!" Darian's cries went unheard in the heat of the battle, but Char was doing it anyway. Countless Zubat were attacking him as he slowly climbed to his feet. He used an Ember, but another Zubat attacked him from behind.

Later in it's life, that Zubat would tell this story with regret to its friends, because as soon as it attacked him, Char started to glow with a bright white light. He grew bigger, and a horn began to grow out of the back of his head, and the flame on his tail got bigger and more intense.

"Charmeleon!" he cried, releasing a huge Flamethrower into the air.

**Oh my gosh! Char evolved! Hooray! Hooray!**

**Now, lovely reviewers, I have an ultimatum for you. Option 1: Continue exactly the way we've been going, with an update almost every day, with the chapters the exact same length, or Option 2: Get longer chapters, but only update every other day. **

**Tough decision, yes? Yes. Because I can't decide, I'm asking you, and I'll go with the majority vote.**

**Hope you all have a good day!**


	10. Even More Surprises!

**Hello everyone! The results are in: I shall continue updating everyday! Yay! Anyways, thanks to my new reviewer: Magic Jac! Because you're new, I shall answer your question first. Read this chapter for the answer! And to everyone commenting on where Char evolved, I did it for a couple of reasons. 1: Technically, this story is following the game's storyline, and that's a good place to evolve in the game. 2: I love Charmeleon. 3. Darian needed something cool to happen to his team, or he was going to die of jealousy. Finally, to define-originality, you're right. You caught me, I'm stealing all your favorite Pokemon and putting them in here. :D**

**Disclaimer: (to the tune of I Could've Danced All Night) Pokemon's not mine, Pokemon's not mine, but oh, I wish it waaaaaas…**

**I'm a geek, I know.**

Darian's mouth hung open, and he was shocked speechless, but Char was fine with that. He could fight without Darian's orders. He looked calmly at the Zubat surrounding him. They had backed off a little when he had started glowing, and they were going to regret that.

Char opened his mouth again, and released a Flamethrower, spinning around slowly to hit each Zubat that decided not to run, err… fly, away. A few Zubat fell to the ground, fainted, and the rest quickly flew away. Soon, the only sound in the cave was the continuing screaming of Jenny-human. She seemed to like to scream.

_What the heck was that?_ Sarah's Squirtle demanded, waving his arms to emphasize his point.

_I evolved._ Char said smugly, folding his arms and puffing out his chest proudly.

_Friend, that was utterly amazing!_ Butterscotch cheered,_ I am astounded by your impeccable timing!_

"Char! That was so cool! Right on cue!" Darian said happily. However, no one heard him over Jenny's screaming.

_My ears ish hurting! _Drew squealed, _Make Mama stop!_

Saur happily obliged, whipping Jenny yet again. _I get entirely too much pleasure out of this. _she admitted, as Jenny yelled something unintelligible at her before falling silent.

_Jenny-human screams too much. _Char said, enjoying the sound of his new, deeper voice. He sounded manly and strong. He could probably beat this Misty gym leader they were talking about now. Anyhow, they needed to get out of this cave first. He thought carefully, meaning not at all, about which course he should take. Then, realizing that everyone HAD to follow him because his flame was the only source of light, he set off in the direction that smelled most like the outside world.

_This way_ he said confidently, but no one followed him.

_We wait for Master Sarah and her friends! _Squirtle said adamantly, waving his arms again, but Char just kept walking. He knew they would have to follow him. Sure enough, as it started to get dark around the humans, they returned all their Pokemon except Drew and Char, and ran to catch up with him.

"Char! Wait up! We're not as strong as you!" Darian called, straining from Jenny and Drew's weight.

_You can say that again,_ Char muttered to himself, continuing to walk. The humans would catch up. After all, he wasn't exactly hard to find. He was the brightest thing in this cave. So he continued walking, not worrying about the humans.

They navigated their way through the cave in this way, with the humans and Drew straggling behind Char. Every time a Zubat showed up, Char would roast it, Drew would cheer happily, and the humans would congratulate him. Char felt like he could beat anything.

It took them only an hour to get to the next set of stairs, because Char was just so magnificent at what he did. He sat and waited for the humans to catch up, idly examining his newly sharpened claws. When they arrived there however, instead of unanimous congratulations, Drew was looking around confusedly.

_Something wrong shrimp? _Char said affectionately. He did like Drew, but then again he loved all babies.

_Yesh. _Drew said, though he sounded uncertain. He stuck a tiny claw in his mouth and looked around again. _Thish ishn't. the right ladder. Ish that way. _he pointed diagonally, off into what seemed like a random direction.

_Don't be silly kid._ Char said uncomfortably as Sarah and Darian started climbing down the latter, taking a whining Jenny and Drew with them. He jumped down after them and was horrified by what he saw. They were in a long, straight tunnel and at the end of the tunnel, there was a dead end. There was nothing there, and he had led them there. Oh Mew, they were going to think he was stupid. In a desperate attempt to keep his dignity, he just marched onwards, toward the dead end, as if he knew what he was doing.

The humans voiced their doubts, but Char just shook his head violently, and marched. The tunnel was longer than it looked, but it still only took five minutes to get to the end. Luckily, his brashness paid off. At the end of the tunnel, there was a brown, burlap bag, He pointed at the bag proudly, as if finding this bag had been his purpose the whole time. The humans drew closer and peered at it.

"Rightfully stolen property," Darian said, reading the small black print, "Keep out! Keep out? That's stupid! Who would write that?" He bent over to pick up the bag, but Jenny and Drew, still tied to his back, protested any movement, so Sarah picked it up instead, looking inside. She gasped, which only made them more curious. She kept looking blankly until Jenny and Darian shouted simultaneously, and she snapped out of it. She held it out so that everyone, even Char, could see, and Char immediately understood why Sarah-human had been amazed.

The bag was stuffed full of all sorts of poke balls. Really, there were all sorts. There were Ultra balls, and Great balls. There were Premier balls and Net balls. There were even Friend balls, Timer balls, and Dive balls.

"There are so many pokeballs!" Sarah breathed, incredulous. "Do you think the Neo-Rocket dudes did this? I mean, it's illegal to carry more than six per person and there are all these..."

"Why would it be them?" Jenny said, confused. "We don't know anything about them. They could be nice people... I mean... who like to hurt Pokemon...but... just nevermind." she finished lamely

Char and Drew exchanged a glance. _Itsh definitely the NeeRocks. _Drew said, _I sheen that bag before. _

Char reached in and grabbed a Friend ball, figuring that whatever was in it would be willing to help them. The humans looked at him strangely, but he threw the ball before any of them could take it away from him.

There was another flash of bright white light, blinding them all yet again, and a Cleffa popped out. Jenny nearly died with glee as the Cleffa turned to her and started to speak.

_Hola senorita! _It said, with a thick Spanish accent, seemingly twirling an imaginary mustache, _Encantada! Me llamo Javier! Come se llama?_

Before it could speak another confusing word, Char returned it again, much to everyone's protest. He simply shook his head and grabbed a Timer ball. Closing his eyes, he let out the Pokemon, successfully avoiding the blinding light, and out popped a Diglett.

_Diglett Dig!_ it cried, looking them over_, Where's my trainer dig?_

___I've got no clue. _Char said noncommitally _But can you help us out of this cave?_

_I want my trainer! Do you dig, dawg? DIGLETT!_ it cried, getting unnecessarily worked up. Char tried to calm it down, but instead it used Magnitude. Luckily, it was only a 1 or 2, but Char returned the thing anyway, tossing its ball into the sack and pulling out a Premier ball. Before he let it out, he sent a silent prayer to Dialga, asking for a sensible Pokemon. He tossed the ball, and from it emerged a Mareep.

It turned around in circles rapidly, looking at its new company. It stopped, looking at Char, and shaking out of fright.

_Hel- _

_AAAAAAAH OH MA GAWD OH MA GAWD AHHHHHHHHH!_ the Mareep shrieked, attempting to run off. However, it smacked into Jenny and Darian first, knocking Drew onto its head and running off again.

Drew, instead of falling off, grabbed onto the Mareep's fur and held on for dear life as it shrieked, let out a surprisingly strong Discharge and ran towards the ladder.

Char immediately ran after them, but the humans stood speechless for a second before they realized the Mareep was kidnapping Drew and ran after the Pokemon. Sarah still had the bag, and she had been commenting on how much the Mareep reminded her of Jenny when she was abruptly left in the dust.

"Hey! Wait for me!" she cried belatedly, sprinting to catch up.

Char ignored them all, running as fast as he could. If he could just catch up to the Mareep before it hurt itself trying to climb the ladder, they could all sort things out and find their way out of here with no harm to anyone.

At last, they arrived at the ladder, but much to Char's dismay, the Mareep somehow defied the laws of Palkia and ran straight up the ladder as if it were a wall.

"That Mareep is living in the Matrix!" Jenny cried, exasperated even though she wasn't running. Char scrambled up the ladder with the humans in tow.

When they got up, Drew had somehow developed a method of steering the Mareep using its fur, like a bicycle. They were running in the direction that Drew had pointed earlier. Char cried out for them to stop, but they were too far away already for them to hear. Left with no choice, Char hung back a little until the humans over took him, then used Flamethrower at their heels to make them run faster. In this manner, they formed a rag-tag chase through the cave.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Wait… do you hear that?" Elizabeth asked Tony. They were two of the trainers at the Pokemon center, who had left before Jenny and her group.

"Yeah.. I do!" Tony said. "It sounds like screaming…"

As he said it, a Mareep ran by shrieking continuously, with a baby Sandshrew, who was squeaking happily, on its back.

_AHHHHHHHHHHH OH MA GAWD HELP OH MA GAWD OH MA GAWD AHHHHHHH!_

It ran past them, shocking them with a Discharge. Turning to look at Tony, Elizabeth fussed with her blond hair, which was now singed and frizzy.

"What the he-" she started to ask, but before she could, they heard more yelling.

Three trainers ran by, with a Charmeleon flaming their feet. Two of them, a blonde and a brunette, were running past, and the third one, with short black hair, was tied like a captive around the blonde's back. She was the source of most of the yelling, flailing all over the place, hitting the blonde, and attempting to kick the Charmeleon. Right as they passed Elizabeth and Tony, the short one succeeded in kicking the Charmeleon. The Pokemon's head was forced back, and its continuous Flamethrower hit Elizabeth and Tony straight in the face.

"Sorry!" the brunette called back, waving a strange burlap sack apologetically, seeming to recognize them. Before the two could get a good look at her though, the group was off, chasing after the shrieking Mareep.

"Wait…" Elizabeth said confusedly, her face covered in ash. "Were they-"

"That group from the Pokemon center? I think-" Tony said, finishing her sentence.

"They were! Do you think-" she exclaimed, finally recognizing the group.

"That happens all the time? I'm sure I don't know, but they-" Tony said, remembering the stories they had told, and how excited Nurse Joy had been when something had happened in front of her.

"Owe us new outfits…" Elizabeth finished, examining their ruined clothes mournfully.

**Aaaaaaaaaaaaand that's all folks! I really have nothing to say here… So I'll give you a spoiler!**

**Next time: They get out of Mt. Moon! *gasp* I'm so unpredictable! And I apologize for the shortness, I had a small bout of writer's block when thinking about how to get them out of the cave. Tomorrow, there shall be more! And plot!**

***In a dramatic voice with sad music playing* Hi, I'm Elphie Upland, and this is Lola the Review. Lola is homeless, starving on the streets and struggling to survive. This is your opportunity to help Lola. Simply click the review button, and your review is donated to the Love-For-Reviews foundation, and step by step, all of us can give Lolas all over the world *pause* a home.**


	11. Wild Goose Chase

**Hello, hello! I'm back! Thanks to my new reviewer: RunningWithWolves11. I am just fine with a not constructive review (:D), but I try to avoid them, because I get a big head and my stories start to suck. Nobody wants a sucky story. Thanks to all my fantabulous loyal reviewers! You get an internet and a cookie. ^-^ DesecratedPharoah, I don't know how they're going to get out of Rock Tunnel. I myself couldn't get out of it for a week! Don't laugh! And define-originality, really? I didn't know Cleffa was another of your favorites! Wow, I'm a stealin' and I don't know it!**

**WARNING! All characters that don't belong in the anime are MINE! But Pokemon isn't! WARNING!**

The whole group bust out of the tunnel and into the light, blinded by the sudden change in scenery. They seemed to get blinded and awful lot, Jenny noted. The Mareep had finally slowed down, and they had been catching up, even though she could feel Darian about to collapse underneath her. Char took the opportunity to leap over their heads, something Jenny wished she could do, and land on the stationary Mareep's back, right behind Drew.

The Mareep let out another scream, but was unable to move. Apparently, it was Char that the poor thing was afraid of. Jenny could see why. He wasn't all cute and cuddly anymore, and he was pretty scary. She was kind of thankful for the Mareep's fear though, because it had led them out of that wretched, scary tunnel.

"Can you let me off your back now?" Jenny asked, irritated. She had asked several times during the chase, but apparently Darian hadn't heard. She tried yelling her predicament to the trainers they passed, but most of them were either laughing to hear, couldn't hear, or had been knocked out by a Discharge. She really wanted off, because Darian's back was uncomfortable.

"Not yet," Darian gasped, and his answer left Jenny wondering what he was trying to prove until he continued with, "You might try and get that Cleffa out again."

"Are you for real?" Jenny asked angrily, "That Cleffa was forever ago and you're still worried about it? What the heck? Can't you see I've matured? I'm past that stage of 'I want now', can't you just-"

"Oh look," Darian deadpanned, "A Jigglypuff."

"WHERE? Oh…. That's different!" She said, but she grumbled and gave up.

They all walked up to the group, and Darian returned Char. Once the Mareep saw that he was no longer chasing her, she relaxed. A little. Drew hopped off of her, and Jenny returned him, deciding to bond later. They all examined the Mareep, who was cowering slightly.

"Hel-" Darian started to say cheerfully, but it was broken off by another scream. The Mareep ran again, and this time, there was no Drew to steer it in the right direction. Sarah and Darian sighed, while Jenny smiled, knowing that Darian would regret not letting her off his back. They started running again, exhausted. After running for an hour past all variations of green trees, shrubberies, and small ridges, they started to see the buildings that signaled the beginnings of Cerulean City. All of them were panting hard, except for Jenny, but the chase continued.

The Mareep led them right into the city proper, which earned them many weird looks, especially at Jenny and Darian. Jenny would wave at them cheerfully as they ran by. Some would return the wave, and others would look at her, wondering whether or not they should call the cops.

Sarah, thankfully, had the sense to divert off the chase and drop off the suspicious burlap bag at the police station. "I'll see you at the Pokemon center!" she called.

First they would have to find the Pokemon center. The Mareep was leading them on what seemed like a wild goose chase through out the city. In fact, they recognized some people they had passed from earlier. Those people recognized them too, and some started whipping out cell phone cameras. Jenny flushed with embarrassment.

"Hurry up and catch it!" She hissed to Darian.

"Easier said than done! You're on my back!"

"And whose fault is that?" she liked this argument. It was going her way for once.

"Well, whatever! Unless you have a solution to this, be quiet!"

"I may have said this several times while we were chasing the Mareep, but don't you have its Premier ball?"

"No! Try another idea!"

"Oh, that's right! I have it!" She held out the pokeball as they passed what looked like the same building for the fourth time.

"What the heck Jenny? Why didn't you tell us this before!" Darian shouted angrily.

"I did! You were just to busy playing the 'I know what I'm doing and Jenny doesn't so I'm not going to listen to what she says' bit to actually hear the words I was saying!"

"I'm sorry! Please, catch it!"

"Apology not accepted yet, wait until it's not vital for your back for you to apologize."

"Okay, okay! Just please catch it!"

"I'll catch it when we pass the Pokemon center. This thing'll lead us there eventually."

Darian sighed, but continued running. They passed several buildings that Darian was sure he had seen earlier, and many people were laughing and photographing them, but at long last, the Pokemon center was in sight.

"There's the Pokemon center!" he cried, and Jenny reached around and returned the Mareep. Darian's momentum kept him running for a little bit, but he managed to stop. The people around them, who apparently had heard about the chase or something, clapped. He smiled weakly, and walked into the Pokemon center.

There were mixed reactions when they got into the center. Some of the trainers from Mt. Moon had managed to get here before them and were very angry about their clothes, and other trainers they had never seen before recognized them and were laughing. Some trainers didn't appear to recognize them at all, thankfully, but they were still laughing at the sight of Jenny tied to Darian's back with her feet dangling.

The Nurse Joy behind the counter immediately rushed up to them, looking them all over, and busied herself with untying the ropes.

"Oh my gosh, are you guys all right?" she asked desperately, "It's been a slow news day, so your chase was being covered! I saw it, and you both must be exhausted!"

Jenny hopped down, trying to get used to walking again, an straightening her clothes. Darian just nodded, rubbing his back. Neither of them protested when Nurse Joy grabbed them by their bandaged arms and dragged them to the back. She sat them down on some stretchers, and Jenny wondered if each Pokemon center was identical as well.

"Now that I get a closer look at you," Nurse Joy said, busily rewrapping their bandages and adding a few new ones, "I realize that you two must be the ones my family was talking about! Oh, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as she stepped back, her hands on her face.

"For what?" Jenny asked, tiredly.

"I'm so sorry for hoping that something exciting would happen for me to tell! Oh my gosh, look what it did to you! Oh, please forgive me!" The Nurse Joy was tearing up, and Jenny wondered what sort of mad-house they were in now.

"Really, no problem Nurse Joy," Jenny said through a yawn. "We're just tired, and now you have a story. Could we get a bed possibly?"

Nurse Joy blinked away her tears. "Why of course! It's only five though so I don't see why you would want- Oh, right…. Okay follow me please!"

The two hopped off the stretchers, and trudged after Nurse Joy. She led them to a room that looked like the one at Mt. Moon, but had bunk beds, and a few decorations. She walked off after another quick apology, and Jenny looked at Darian. Darian fully prepared himself for a Jenny angry explosion, but she simply said, "Dibs on top."

Darian laughed weakly, and went over to the bottom bunk. He flopped down on it, and before he had time to apologize to Jenny, he was asleep. Jenny felt tempted to laugh at Darian's snoring, but she was too tired, so she climbed up the ladder, flopped down on her own bed, and fell asleep almost as quickly.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-...-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Jenny woke up the next day, Sarah was in the top bunk on the other side of the room, sleeping. She looked below her and saw that Darian was still in his bunk sleeping as well. She hopped up quietly, looking for a clock. She found it outside of her room and the wall opposite, and was shocked awake.

"It's two o' clock in the afternoon?" She lamented, and ran back inside. "Guys! Wake up! It's two o' clock in the _afternoon!_"

"I don't care, Jenny." Sarah mumbled, rolling over and glaring at her. Somehow, after all this time, she still managed to make Jenny angry.

"Well, I guess I'll just go get a gym badge without you guys!" she said, grabbing her backpack and turning to walk off. This woke both Sarah and Darian up, and they scrambled to get everything in order. Jenny just walked out and into the center's lobby, grabbing a brush from her backpack and putting on her hoodie as she went. She still got a few looks from the trainers as she walked onward, but she was starting to get good at ignoring them. She only hoped that she wouldn't need to get used to it anymore. She didn't like making a commotion.

Sarah and Darian scrambled out after her, and together they left the Pokemon center. It was only after they got out that Jenny realized her shoes were still in the room, but the Gym was only about a fifteen minute walk from the Pokemon center, so she could deal. Many people recognized the group from the news, and stopped to talk to them, so in reality the walk took more like an hour, but that was okay.

"Dear Mew," Jenny mumbled, "I pray that you never let us be the talk of the town ever again."

When they finally reached the gym, many people were filing out of it. After talking to a few of them, Jenny gathered that the gym trainers had been putting on a water show under Misty's direction, and that they had just missed it. For the group's purpose however, this was great. Misty could battle them now!

They walked inside, and stadium that made up the gym was still quite crowded. They couldn't even find Misty in the crowd, so they made their way to the bleachers and sat there, waiting for people to leave. While they waited, they determined that Jenny would battle Misty first, then Sarah, then Darian. That would, like last time, give Darian a chance to think up a strategy.

When maybe twenty people were left, Jenny spotted Misty. She jumped up and walked down, much to Sarah's and Darian's protests. She walked straight up to the red-headed gym leader, with the intent of introducing herself, but the gym leader already recognized her.

"Oh, you're one of the trainers from the Mareep chase yesterday," Misty said, putting her hands on her knees and bending over to look at Jenny eye-to-eye. "You and your friend were just too funny! How long did it take him to realize you had the thing's pokeball? Hours?"

"Err… yes." Jenny said. "Literally, hours. But, Ms. Misty-"

"Please, just call me Misty. I'm only twenty-two, and you're making me feel like an old woman!"

"Oh, okay. Misty, I wanted to actually challenge you for a gym badge."

Misty blinked, standing up and looking at one of the people still surrounding her. "Rachel, do we have time for a gym battle?"

The girl she addressed was obviously her assistant or something, because the girl pulled out an appointment book. "You're free for the rest of the day, Misty. You can do whatever you want!"

"That's great!" Jenny said happily, "because my friends are trainers too. If you could possibly-"

"Battle them too?" Misty said, looking up at Sarah and Darian, who were waving sheepishly from the bleachers. "I don't see why not. However, it'd have to be a two-on-two battle if I'm to have enough Pokemon to fight all of you without going to the Pokemon center in between battles."

"That's good too!" Jenny said, clapping her hands together decisively. "Thank you so much!"

"No worries," Misty said. "I haven't battled in awhile, so this should be fun. Who's up first?"

"I am!" Jenny said excitedly.

"Well, come on." Misty said, walking to one side of the giant pool. "You're there, and I'm over here." She pointed at a diving board on one end of the pool, while she climbed the diving board on her side.

Jenny looked hesitantly at their playing field. The pool was almost empty, except for a few platforms that floated on the water. This was going to be harder than she thought. But then again, not all gym leaders were as easy to beat as Brock had been.

"This battle will be a two-on-two between the challenger, and the gym leader Misty!" A man called from his platform below. "Only the challenger may use substitutes! The battle is over when both Pokemon on either team is fainted! Battle begin!"

"Go, Horsea!" Misty shouted. A little blue Pokemon that looked rather like a sea horse popped out with a cheerful chirp, landing gracefully in the water.

"Go, Saur!" Saur landed, thankfully, on one of the platforms, but she was unsteady, and nearly fell into the water. Jenny started praying immediately, hoping upon hope that Saur could manage this.

"Your move!" Misty called confidently.

**Oh ma gawd, I did it again! Another cliffhanger? Oh, I'm sorry! Ah well, you only have to wait a day. Tomorrow, they all battle Misty! Hooray Hooray!**

**Anyways, if you review, I'll leave you something in my will! Oh wait… no, never mind! Just… review! Tell me how you think the battles will go, and I'll tell you if you're right. :D**


	12. It's Battle Time, Y'all!

**A/N: Oh my gosh, I just realized everyone, but I won't be able to update until Sunday, OMG I promise there will be a super-long make-up chapter! I apologize sincerely for any of you who wanted an update T.T**

**Hello hello! Hmmm. No new reviewers. Bummer. Ah, well! I'll just have to write better! And I'll thank my regular reviewers! You guys are awesome! But none of you guessed correctly how the battles will go. It's okay, don't fret!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, I wouldn't need a disclaimer, so do the math Pokemon Corporation!**

"Your move!" Misty called again, but Jenny didn't know what to do. She couldn't even see the Horsea, much less tell Saur how to attack it!

"Umm… Saur! Razor Leaf!" Saur looked up at her questioningly, then used Razor Leaf on her. "Ow! No, I meant on the Horsea!"

Misty rubbed the back of her head, confused. "My turn, I guess. Horsea! Smokescreen!" The Horsea obliged, and soon the whole pool was blacker than black. Shoot. Now she definitely wasn't going to be able to attack. She didn't know how long the black would last, so she didn't even know how she was going to fight the next Pokemon Misty threw out.

"Okay, Saur, use your Vine Whips to find the Horsea! And when you do, hoist it out of the water!" Saur, thankfully, obeyed her this time.

"Horsea! Dodge them, and when you get the chance, use Bubblebeam!" the Horsea, too used to obeying orders, chirped loudly to show that it had heard, and Saur leaped at the chance, locating the Horsea and grabbing it with a Vine Whip. The Horsea squirmed, but then realized where it was and shot a Bubblebeam point blank into Saur's face.

"Saur! Use Razor Leaf again!" Saur had gotten hit by the first few bubbles and had realized that even though she was resistant to them, they really hurt, so she let her Razor Leaf go at full force. Her leaves sliced straight through the bubbles and hit the Horsea. The Horsea squealed in pain, but Saur just kept going.

"Horsea! Get with it! Use Twister!" Misty called, but the Horsea didn't seem to hear. If it did, it certainly couldn't act on it. Saur was attacking it with an alarming resolve. It was kind of scary to Jenny, that one of her Pokemon was acting so savage. Then again, this was a battle. Saur really hadn't need to be savage with Brock's Onix because he was so distracted. Either way, Jenny would probably have to get used to battling like this.

With a loud cry, the Horsea shook again, then fainted. Once it did, Saur immediately stopped being savage, laying it on a platform close to Misty so that she could return it. Okay, so that was just Saur's battle style, Jenny realized, very relieved.

"Horsea is no longer able to battle!" The referee cried. No duh, referee man. Saur looked up at her for approval, and saw her jumping up and down excitedly. Saur chuckled, and turned to see what the next Pokemon would be.

"That was rather quick," Darian said to Sarah up in the bleachers, "I didn't expect Jenny to be so good. Fishing for Pokemon? That's amusing."

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Sarah said, "And I'm not sure if it was Jenny, Saur, or both that helped her win that battle. We'll just see how she does with the next one."

"Come on out, Starmie!" Misty called, throwing her pokeball. A large, purple starfish looking thing, with a red jewel in the center of its body came out, making a robotic, synthesized sound.

Jenny recognized this Pokemon from a few of the cover stories on Misty that she had seen. It was her favorite Pokemon, and she could always rely on it to help her against type advantages. Shoot. Jenny wracked her brain, trying to remember the moves it knew, but the Starmie demonstrated them for her.

"Starmie! Use Hydro Pump!" Misty called before Jenny had time to react. The Starmie leaned back, pausing for a second, and Jenny screamed at Saur to dodge, but before Saur could, a huge blast of water shot out of one of Starmie's arms. It hit Saur, and Saur was blasted back into the water.

"Saur!" Jenny yelled, as Saur sunk a little. Apparently, she couldn't swim. Misty took pity on her and had Starmie get Saur out of the water and back onto a platform. Just as the referee was about to tell everyone that Saur was unable to battle, Saur jumped up and fired off her Razor Leaf, only about a foot away from the Starmie. The hardened leaves bounced off Starmie, but the Starmie was shrieking, and they were making small scratches in its shell. It leaped back, and Saur continued until it dove underwater. Jenny risked a look at Misty, and saw that she was smiling.

"Nice tactic!" Misty called, "Playing dead and all, but I hope you got the most out of it, because it's not happening again! Starmie! Use Whirlpool!" Underneath Saur's platform, the water started to swirl, and with it, the platform. Saur looked around uncertainly, wondering where the Starmie was. Too little, too late, both Jenny and Saur realized that it was underneath her. However, when they realized it, the whirlpool had already knocked Saur off the platform again and straight into its depths. The platform was tossed to the other side of the pool, and it revealed Starmie at the bottom, standing in an area that had all the water sucked out of it. Jenny couldn't see Saur, and she started to panic.

"Saur!" she shouted, "If you can hear me, use Vine Whip on Starmie!" Nothing happened. Misty laughed triumphantly, and was about to tell Starmie to stop, when at long last Saur's whips emerged from the frothy whirlpool and started barraging Starmie. Starmie tried to keep up the attack and withstand the attacks, but it just didn't work. The whirlpool collapsed into itself, and both Starmie and Saur were thrown away from it.

Misty called out for Starmie, but they couldn't be seen in the churning waters. To Darian and Sarah, it looked like Jenny and Misty were about to dive in and retrieve their Pokemon personally when Saur and Starmie floated to the surface, fainted.

"Both Bulbasaur and Starmie are unable to battle!" the referee cried, "Challenger Jenny is the victor!"

Jenny stumbled backwards on the diving board, shocked, as she returned Saur. She looked across at Misty, who was for some reason, still smiling, before it sunk in.

"I won!" Jenny shouted, "I won! I have another badge! Darian, Sarah, did you see that? I won!" She climbed down the board as Sarah walked up. Jenny jumped up and down excitedly to scattered applause from the few people who had remained to watch.

"Congratulations Jenny!" Sarah said, and Jenny forgot her hatred of Sarah long enough to hug her and wish her luck before happily skipping off to the bleachers.

"That was amazing Jenny!" Darian said as she sat down, and she just nodded, smiling dazedly as the referee repeated the rules for Sarah.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Battle begin!"

"Go Wooper!" Misty cried out, and a weird looking blue salamander type of Pokemon burst forth, "woop"ing happily.

"Go, Butterscotch!" the Butterfree burst forth, chirping just as, if not more, happily than the Wooper. Sarah wasted no time getting the battle started. "Use Stun Spore, then Gust!" she said.

"Wooper! Mud Shot!" the Wooper opened its mouth, and a ton of mud spewed from it. It burst through the Stun Spore, spreading it out enough to not be effective. However, the Gust kept it far from ever touching Butterscotch, and a both the Gust and a little bit of the Mud Shot hit Wooper. It didn't do much besides knock Wooper into the water, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Good, Wooper! Now use Water Gun!" a steady stream of water burst from the pool, and Butterscotch barely dodged it.

"Use Confusion!" Sarah shouted, and the Butterfree caught all the water, surrounding it with some sort of strange bluish light. It wasn't until the giant mass of water was almost as big as the pool that Wooper decided it should stop. "Good! Now throw it!" The Butterfree obeyed, and the water created space in the pool, splashing everyone in the room, and more importantly, reduced the level of the pool by at least half, revealing the Wooper.

"Stun Spore and Gust again!" she yelled, before anyone could get the water out of their eyes. This time, it hit the Wooper straight on. The Wooper was tossed onto a platform, and it spun around a little, dazed, before it fainted.

"Oh.. Ummm… Wooper is unable to battle!" The referee called.

"What just happened?" Darian said, trying to free his eyes from the chlorine torturing it.

"Uh… Sarah just beat the holy Mew out of Misty's Wooper…How did she do that?" Jenny sputtered. She didn't have to get water out of her eyes, because she had grabbed the sleeve of Darian's hoodie and moved it in front of her face. "That's so not fair! How did she do that so fast?"

"I'm sure I don't know Jenny."

"Butterscotch didn't even get hit! That's like something out of a lame T.V. show!" she said, flailing her arms as Misty threw out her Golduck, immediately ordering it to use Psychic.

Sarah and Butterscotch, who had been dancing around in the air happily, were unprepared for it, and the Butterfree was thrown against the wall, then into the water. Butterscotch's wings weren't built to get wet, and she barely made it to the platform in time to stop herself from drowning. Sarah stood there, her mouth hanging open, as it all happened. In one attack, her Butterfree was grounded, and her advantage removed.

"Use Surf!" Misty said, and a giant wave washed over Butterscotch, crashing into her and knocking her back into the water. Sarah, from her perch, could see Butterscotch flailing in the water before she went limp and floated to the surface.

"Butterfree is unable to battle!" the referee said, barely keeping up with the pace of the battle. Sarah's mouth continued to hang open, as she returned Butterscotch, not saying a word.

"Doesn't feel so good to have your Pokemon KO'd in no time flat, does it?" Misty called from her diving board.

"No, not at all." Sarah muttered as she called out her Squirtle. She got a sinking feeling -no pun intended- that she wasn't going to win this fight. "Squirtle! Rapid Spin!" she called, unenthused.

Squirtle hesitated, sensing his master's unwillingness to battle. He looked back, concerned, but he was picked up by a Psychic. The Golduck tossed him around like a rag doll before slamming him onto a platform on his back. Squirtle, being a turtle Pokemon and all, struggled to turn over, but found himself unable to get back on his feet. He flailed his arms, and even tried using a Water Gun on the ground next to him to push him into the water, but nothing worked.

From up in the stands, it looked awfully pitiful. Jenny was almost embarrassed to watch. "Oh gosh, what happened?" she asked, "She was so good earlier…"

Darian looked up at Sarah, whose head was bowed, her arms hanging limply at her sides. "That Golduck is pretty strong." he said, "I think she lost trust in her Pokemon or something. She's not even trying to help Squirtle."

"That's ridiculous!" Jenny said, outraged, "Her Squirtle is just as strong as her Butterfree! She needs to get with the program and trust in her Pokemon!" she curled her tiny fists together and hit Darian's knee. He grimaced in pain, clutching his knee.

"Yeah, she does." He said, as they both watched the Squirtle get picked up by another Psychic and thrown across the room. He was launched up onto the diving board, landing at Sarah's feet as he fainted.

"Squirtle!" she cried, "Are you all right? Please be okay!" she turned an accusing glare on Misty as she returned him and started climbing down the stairs.

"Don't look at me like that," Misty said, her hands on her hips. "It's not my fault that you don't treat your Squirtle with as much trust as you do your Butterfree. Isn't Squirtle your starter anyway? He's probably stronger than your Butterfree. Just because he doesn't have an advantage doesn't mean he can't win."

Sarah just nodded weakly, returning to the bleachers, avoiding Darian's gaze as he passed her, and sitting far away from Jenny. What was wrong with her? She just…deflated as soon as Butterscotch fainted, Jenny thought to herself, but her attention was quickly diverted when Darian's battle started.

Misty decided to keep her Golduck out, as it hadn't suffered a single attack, and Darian looked at it hesitantly.

"Challenger, you may call out your Pokemon now!" The referee said again, rather forcefully. Darian, instead of throwing out Char's pokeball, pulled out a very familiar Premier Ball and released the panicky Mareep.

"Er… go Marie!" he said, as Jenny slapped her forehead with her hands. He did NOT just do that. 'Marie' wasn't even his! It was a stolen Pokemon! What made him think that 'she' was going to listen to him, especially after the chase?

Misty giggled. "So this is the famous Mareep!" she said, as Marie spun around wildly on the platform, nearly sliding off and shrieking while she held on. "This should be fun! Golduck, use Surf!" the wave started building up again, and Darian panicked.

"Marie! Use Thunderbolt!" Whether out of obedience, or sheer luck, the shrieking Mareep obliged, hitting the Golduck through its wave and shocking it. The Golduck jumped back, visibly hurt, but still up and kicking.

"Too cute!" Misty said, clapping her hands to her face, "I love Mareep! Golduck, use Slash!" The Golduck dove into the water, swimming quickly towards Marie, who for some reason was still spinning around wildly.

"Marie! Use Thundershock on the water!" again, Marie obeyed, firing all sorts of electric attacks into the water, utterly frying the Golduck. Darian still couldn't determine whether or not the Mareep was actually listening, but he was going to take what he could get. The Golduck burst out of the water, several burn marks on its arms, and used Slash. It hit Marie, knocking her sideways. She shrieked and used a Thunderbolt, hitting the Golduck at blank range. The Golduck staggered back, and she hit it again, still shrieking. Finally, after several such attacks, the Golduck fell over, fainted.

Jenny cheered, but she suddenly was overcome by the feeling that Sarah wouldn't have been able to beat the Golduck, even if she had tried. After all, it had taken that many electric attacks to take it down, and 'Marie' had the advantage. Jenny wasn't sure about the legality of using the Mareep, but hey, they could worry about that later.

Misty smiled, congratulating Darian and squealing over the Mareep as she called out a Seaking. It landed in the water with a splash, taking the time to get used to the pool level being less than half the normal size. It looked up at Misty, confused, but she just shook her head and ordered it to use Horn Drill.

Marie had started shrieking again when it saw the new Pokemon, so it didn't hear Darian order it to use Thunderbolt. It merely ran around in circles, screaming. This left it completely open to attack, and the Seaking took that opportunity, leaping out of the water and hitting it with a Horn Drill that knocking both of the Pokemon into the water. Misty immediately shouted out "No!" but it was too late. Mareep, alarmed by the new setting, attempted to shriek underwater. When it found out it couldn't, it used Discharge. Not only was the Seaking touching Mareep when the Discharge fired, but it was also a water Pokemon. Surrounded by water. Water that conducted electricity. With a scream to rival the Mareep, it fainted, floating to the surface. Mareep, however, sunk and continued to use Discharge until the referee called out that Darian had won and Darian was able to return it.

"I won," he said, grinning. Misty nodded, sighing.

"Three new trainers and I only beat one of them," she moaned, but she was smiling slightly as she returned the Seaking. "Well congratulations you two. And you," she said, addressing Sarah, even though she clearly wasn't listening, "Come back and challenge me again, but only when you're willing to give it your all."

Jenny ran up to Darian, jumping excitedly. "You won too! You won too!" It seemed awfully childish, but Darian couldn't help it. He started jumping too.

**Oof. That was rough on me. I have trouble writing fighting scenes, so that short little chapter took me all day. T.T I hope you enjoyed it! **

**Review! Review! Review!**

**Finally, review and tell me what you thought, because fighting scenes are not my forte. I really need your advice here, friends!**


	13. On the Road Again!

**Hello! I apologize sincerely for my absence! Please don't kill me! It's been almost a week, so I decided I'd make the chapter super long, but it's still not going to be enough to make up for all of that… Ah well, welcome to the makeup se- err… chapter. Yeah, that's it! :D**

**Disclaimer: I own whatever isn't copyrighted in this story, so there!**

"Here's your money," Jenny said shortly, dropping the 50 poke into Sarah's outstretched hand as they walked out of Misty's gym. She was still quite angry with Sarah for what she did to Squirtle, and was almost angry at Darian for, maybe, breaking the Pokemon League rules.

Sarah looked down at Jenny, surprised by her tone. "You didn't talk to me that way when I passed you on the way to the battle. You were all smiles and encouragement."

"Well, I'm not now!" Jenny said, her voice rising a little, "I gave you your money, so now you can stop following us!"

"Why are you getting so angry, Jenny?" Darian asked, his eyebrow raising as he looked around. Luckily, no one paid them any attention. He only noticed a few looks from afar as some people recognized them from the chase.

"Hush up, cheater boy!" she said, pointing an accusing finger at him before turning back to Sarah, who had realized why Jenny was angry.

"This is about Squirtle, isn't it?" Sarah asked, and when Jenny nodded angrily, Sarah continued, "That was a mistake. Squirtle wasn't ready for that, so I should've just forfeited."

"What the heck?" Jenny asked incredulously, "He wasn't ready for that? He's your starter! If anything, he should be stronger than your Butterscotch! The only advantage Butterscotch had was that she was in the air!"

"Squirtle isn't stronger," Sarah said uncomfortably, but Jenny continued anyway.

"How is he not stronger? You got him first! Besides, you didn't even try to attack! You just let him lay there on his back! Do you know how sad that looked?"

"Look," Sarah said, "I got Butterscotch from my dad in Viridian. He used Butterscotch to beat several gym leaders. But he did it way back when he was a boy, so none of the gym leaders were quite as strong as they are today, and he didn't have to fight Brock, Misty, Sabrina, or Erika! I was expecting this to work, but I'm not a good trainer! And I did try to attack! Squirtle just didn't listen! And yes, I am fully aware of how that looked, because I saw it too."

Jenny didn't look satisfied, but apparently she decided that the silent treatment would work better, so she turned on her heel and walked towards the Pokemon center. Any people that tried to stop her and talk to her about the chase were promptly glared at.

"Great," Sarah said sarcastically, "First I get completely thrashed, and then I get yelled at for it. To top it all off, I'm out of the group after only a few days. I must really be terrible."

"No, not really terrible," Darian said, trying to comfort her and failing, "Jenny just flies off the handle at any little thing. If you recall, I'm in trouble too. That doesn't mean you're out of the group!"

Sarah nodded, cheering up a little. "I'm going to have to stay here though, if I want to beat Misty, and that might take awhile. In the short time I've known Jenny, I think I can safely assume that she isn't going to want to wait for someone she hates."

Darian rubbed the back of his head. He did not like having to argue with someone who seemed to be seeing the dark side of everything. He kind of wished that he were more like Jenny, so that he wouldn't feel bad about just walking off without another word. He wasn't, however, so he changed the subject.

"Let's go to the Pokemon center," he said. "Our Pokemon need to be healed, and Jenny will probably be there. We can talk to her there."

Sarah shook her head, smiling. "No way, Darian. I can tell when I'm not welcome. I'll just wait until you guys leave town. That should be fairly soon, so I can wait until then."

Darian threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. "Sarah! We are ten! Stop talking like you know everything! Jenny might as well be eight! She forgives people in a heartbeat!"

Sarah just shook her head again, starting to turn and walk off. "Bye, Darian! It's been nice knowing you!"

"Ack!" Darian shouted, to no one in general, "I will never understand girls!" he exclaimed as he walked towards the Pokemon center, and after Jenny.

When he got back to the Pokemon center, it was late afternoon. Many people had stopped him on the street to ask him about the Mareep, and he talked to them instead of ignoring them. He figured this would give Jenny plenty of time to cool off before he got there. When he pushed open the doors, Jenny was retrieving Saur's pokeball from Nurse Joy. He walked quickly past her and to their rooms, just in case. When he got there, Sarah's stuff had been tossed out of the room in a heap, and everything else, including his stuff, was neatly packed and ready to go. He sighed. So Jenny was serious about leaving Sarah behind. He should've figured. First impressions were everything, his mother always said, and that little first encounter in the Viridian Forest hadn't exactly been blessed by Mew.

He picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. As an afterthought, he picked up Jenny's too and walked out of the room and into the lobby. Or rather, into chaos. Jenny was screaming at two very familiar looking men in trench coats, and they were screaming back at her. People were looking on in confusion, and a few recognized the men, including Darian.

"The Neo-Rockets." He said as Jenny continued yelling at them. If they hadn't been criminals, it might've been funny. Jenny was just so short, and they were rather tall, even for grown ups, so it looked like a mouse with a high voice was yelling at two hawks.

"YOU JUST COME IN HERE LIKE YOU'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!" she was shouting, "WHEN YOU HURT DREW AND STOLE COUNTLESS OTHER POKEMON!"

"YOU MUST BE DREAMING GIRLY GIRL!" one of the men shouted. "THAT SANDSHREW WAS OURS, AND WE DIDN'T STEAL ANY POKEMON!" The other man nodded, folding his arms menacingly. Nurse Joy just stood behind the counter, apparently looking for something.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Jenny yelled shrilly. She sounded like an angry chipmunk. "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID! I WAS THE ONE WHO SAW YOU, REMEMBER?"

"SHUT UP!" said the first man, stepping forward to slap her. However, many of the trainers stood up right then, outraged. Several Pokemon suddenly appeared around the two men. Many of them were smaller, weaker Pokemon, like Saur, but there were enough notable ones, like a Gabite and a Houndoom, to make the man rethink his decision. He seemed to just realize that he was in the middle of a Pokemon center.

"I-I-I have to go now!" he said, and he turned on his heel and ran. The other man was left standing in the circle of people. He looked around sheepishly.

"My uh, friend is crazy… He can't, uh, control what he says. I should probably, uh, go help him. Uh, just in case he, uh, tries to hit another… uh, uh, Viva la Giovanni!" he shouted, running out.

Many people stood there shocked. Jenny, forever immune to awkward silences, asked a question. "Who is Giovanni?"

That started several whispered conversations, and everybody seemed worried, even Darian. Every single Pokemon remained out of their pokeballs. Jenny was very confused, so she asked again. A man in a business suit with a Pichu by his side stepped forward.

"Giovanni is the former leader of the evil criminal group known as the Rockets," he said. "The group was disbanded a decade ago by the young man known as Red. Surely you know the story?" Jenny shook her head, and a trainer in the crowd giggled. Jenny was acutely aware that she was still the only one in the middle of the circle. The graying, older man continued.

"The group itself ended, and many of the grunts were captured, but the higher-ups and Giovanni disappeared. They haven't been heard from in Kanto ever since. Those men… Little child, do you know who they were?"

"Well…" Jenny paused, looking around the circle. "Yeah. But I'm not a little child!" Nurse Joy laughed hesitantly before she got several looks and Jenny continued. "They called themselves the Neo-Rockets."

"How interesting." The man said, looking around at the worried expressions. "They didn't seem very bright at all, now did they? Surely not intelligent enough to be any sort of important. I'm sure they're just rabble-rousers." The Pichu by his side crossed its arms firmly to emphasize the point. It nodded wisely and squeaked.

"Rabble-rousers or not, they need to be apprehended," came the voice of Officer Jenny. She had come running in with a Growlithe, but when she realized that the men had split, she simply walked into the middle of the circle with Jenny. "I got your call Delia," she said, looking at a middle-aged woman with a Chimecho floating next to her. The woman beamed and nodded.

"Now, young lady," she started.

"Jenny." Jenny supplied.

"Really?" Officer Jenny blinked. "Wonderful name, I have to say. Anyhow, you're not in any trouble at all, but I do need to question you about your encounter. I have to make an official case report every time I'm called out, you see."

Jenny nodded shyly, intimidated by anyone with an official looking badge. "Yes, Officer Badge- uh, I mean Jenny, but can my friend Darian come to? He saw those guys in Mt. Moon. He could be questioned too."

Darian slapped his forehead, creating an audible smacking noise. He didn't want to be questioned! What was Jenny thinking?

Officer Jenny blinked. "Yes, of course. If he knows anything about them, he'll have to be brought in as well. Where is he?"

"Wonderful," Darian muttered to himself before walking up to them and saying, "I'm right here." He tossed Jenny her backpack a little forcefully, and she looked at him apologetically. Officer Jenny walked out and motioned for them to follow her. As they walked out the door, Jenny swore that she could hear Nurse Joy say something about rubbing that story in her family's face. She groaned. For Palkia's sake, not again.

Again, they were faced with people recognizing them as they walked down the street, but they seemed a little alarmed when they saw the two trailing behind Officer Jenny, both looking very nervous. Jenny felt just fine with letting them think what they wanted to.

They arrived at the station, and the inside looked much more friendly than Jenny would have thought. It was covered in bright reds and shiny blues. It was kind of pretty. Officer Jenny led them through the lobby and into a back room, where it got just a tad bit hostile looking. It was grey and cells were lining the back walls as they walked down the hallway. Apparently, the cheeriness was just for normal people who weren't involved in anything. Jenny wanted to be one of those people.

"So." said the officer, sitting down on one side of the table and motioning for them to sit down, "Tell me what happened. This situation first, and then the Mt. Moon incident." Jenny sat down abruptly, plopping down into the chair.

"Those meanies just walked into the Pokemon center and started yelling," she said quickly, wanting to get out of the scary station as soon as possible.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"And all I wanted was a Jigglypuff!" Jenny wailed conclusively. The sound woke up Darian, who had fallen asleep leaning on his fist. For someone who was supposedly terrified of cops, Jenny sure liked to talk. Their total encounter with those men had probably been a grand total of ten minutes, but Jenny had managed to talk for two straight hours. Officer Jenny hadn't even heard his side of the story, and it was already eight o'clock at night. There was no way they were getting out of Cerulean that night.

Officer Jenny turned to Darian, clearly tired, but staying uniformly polite. "Thank you for your input Ms. Sage. Do you have any input, Mr.-" she paused, not knowing Darian's last name.

"Harris. Darian Harris." he said sleepily.

"Do you have any input Mr. Harris?" she asked, giving him a look that begged him to say no.

"I'd just like to say that some of Jenny's account may have been dramatized."

"Duly noted." Officer Jenny smiled, and Darian ignored the look that little Jenny gave him. "Well, that seems to be all. We will contact your parents if we need to get a hold of you. Otherwise, you're free to go."

"Thank goodness," Darian sighed, pushing himself out of the chair. He picked up his backpack, thanked Officer Jenny for her kindness, grabbed Jenny's arm, and walked out. Officer Jenny laughed and stood up as well, walking out of the room and back to her office.

When Jenny and Darian got outside, it was dark out. Darian groaned. "I understand telling Jenny how you ended up with Drew. That was semi-related. But the battle with Brock? How you got Saur? Your desire for a Jigglypuff? Your dance recital when you were _four?_"

"That was highly important!" she said imperiously as she started off in a random direction.

"Where are you going to now?" Darian called.

"Out of the city!"

"Do you even know where you're going?" he said, laughing.

"No!" she called, "But if I walk this way long enough, I'll get out of the city eventually!" Darian started to laugh again, but he realized that she was probably right. So, with a sigh that seemed to be getting more frequent every day, he ran after her.

Jenny ended up being right after all. They kept walking eastward, and eventually they reached the outskirts, where there were very few businesses and a lot of houses. Each house was exactly like the next. Picture perfect green lawns, and picket fences. They reminded Jenny of her house back home.

"Hey Darian?" she said as they kept walking.

"Yes, Jenny?" he yawned, stretching his arms and blinking several times to keep himself awake.

"Do you realize that we've been on our journey for only a month? And we both have two badges?" She looked at him.

"Yeah. That's pretty quick."

"Yup. But I noticed something else, too." she paused, a realization hitting her.

"What?"

"Both of our badges… We won them because we had some sort of advantage over the gym leader. And I barely won against Misty, even with an advantage."

Darian yawned again, and the neighborhood houses started to get farther away from each other, while more and more stars appeared in the night sky. "What's your point Jenny?"

"Well, I think we should have training days."

Darian's tired mind struggled to comprehend what she was saying. "Training days. As in days where we don't travel anywhere. You know, just pause and train. So we can get stronger. AND TOTALLY BEAT THE HOLY HECK OUT OF EVERY SINGLE GYM LEADER!" she shouted in his ear. Needless to say, it caught his attention.

"That sounds like a good idea." he said, rubbing his ears. "You know, Jenny, sometimes I think you're smarter than some snotty fifteen-year-old. Other times, like now, you might as well be two."

She laughed, and suddenly pointed at the sky. "Flying space stuff! Make a wish!" She clamped her eyes closed and was clearly making a wish. Darian smiled, and made a wish of his own.

They continued walking, and after about fifteen minutes of Jenny badgering him about what his wish was, they passed the last of the buildings. They would've been in total darkness if the moon hadn't been shining bright.

"It looks like a Lunatone." Jenny stated, "Do you have a map?"

"Jenny, when don't I have a map? I'm the navigator though. Remember what happened last time?"

Jenny stopped, grinning evilly. "Last time when we totally got lost in Mt. Moon and my Pokemon and- Hey, wait!" she pulled on his backpack.

"What is it Jenny?"

"You still have that Mareep! What'd you call it? 'Marie'? Darian, that's a stolen Pokemon! You broke the rules, I'm pretty sure about that! You can't keep it! We have to go back!" she slapped Darian's shoulder forcefully.

"Ah! Why the sudden freak-out? Do you realize what time it is? We can't go back now!" He motioned around to the grassy area around them. Back in the distance was Cerulean's shining city lights. He didn't want to talk about this, or walk all that way while talking about Marie.

Jenny looked back. She seemed to realize how far it was as well, and her morals were obviously at war with each other. "Well," she said, "We can sit here and talk about it, and in the morning, we are going back!"

Darian, immensely relieved, agreed. He sat down and threw down his backpack into the dust of the dirt road. "Fine. You want to talk about it? Talk to Marie." He drew out the Premier Ball before Jenny had a chance to protest.

As soon as she was released, Marie began screaming. She ran around in circles, thankfully going nowhere. She did however, let out several Discharges, and most of them hit Darian and Jenny.

"Marie, stop." Darian said, trying to be intimidating. The Mareep didn't listen. "Marie, _stop. _MARIE!" The Mareep stopped screaming for an instant, and Darian leapt at the chance. "We have a question for you!"

Marie stopped and turned to Darian, tilting her head quizzically. "Well first, I'd like to congratulate you on your awesome battle with Misty. You were amazing!" Marie squealed happily, and Darian was really hoping they would be able to tone down the screaming if she stayed with them.

"Second, we know you were…well… taken from your trainer." Marie's face fell, and she nodded, squeaking timidly. "Well, we're in the Kanto region. Is your trainer from Johto?" Marie nodded again. It was weird seeing the Mareep show any other emotion besides desperate fear. Darian bit his lip. "Would you, you know, like to…you know, stay with us for awhile? Maybe we could help you find your trainer?" Marie squealed happily. Darian turned to Jenny smugly. "See? She _wants_ to stay with us!"

"That's all well and good Dairy-boy," she said, and Darian sighed in frustration, "But that doesn't mean it's legal! You have to _own _her to battle with her."

"Oh." Darian turned to the Mareep and stared down the, thankfully, silent sheep. "Marie…"

The Mareep had heard. It looked at Darian thoughtfully. "We could always trade you back as soon as we found your trainer. It would make it a lot more fun for both of us if you could battle."

Marie started screaming again, but she didn't run. Darian took that to mean 'yes', so he released her permanently from her Premier Ball and took out his own pokeball. He held it out in front of her, and she looked at it, screaming. Then, she ran headfirst into it, her nose hitting the button. It shook several times.

And it shook. And shook. Darian exchanged glances with Jenny. It shook. And shook.

"Is it supposed to take this long?" he asked. It shook again.

Jenny shrugged and looked at it as it continued to shake. "Maybe she's having second thou- never mind." She finished lamely as it dinged and sat still.

"Yay!" Darian cried childishly, "Marie joined us!" He picked up the pokeball and threw it, letting the Mareep out. She turned out and looked at him. He practically leaped on her, hugging her tightly.

She just started screaming.

**Okay, maybe that wasn't SUPER long, but it was a page and a half longer than normal, and I've been writing for five hours straight, just for you all! This week has been crazy T.T Anyway, I shall have my replies to reviews here!**

**Thanks to my new reviewer: The Fan Fiction Writer! I love you! To SorakoShabon, the advantage was that Butterscotch was in the air and didn't have to jump around. To everyone: Darian was a cheater, yes, but no longer! dogperson13, I think I'll use a couple of your phrases, thanks! And finally, o-CrystalSakura-o, maybe I didn't explain it, but Drew lived in Mt. Moon, so he knew his way around! And then, the stupid Neo-Rockets tried to capture him, so of course he would have seen the bag with all the Pokemon in it!**

**Either way, thank you all lovely friends, and please review!**


	14. Mr Chingling! Send Me A Dream!

**Hello again everyone! Whew, it has been a hectic day, let me tell you! I got trapped inside a Best Buy with all the lights out by a freak thunderstorm that started with no warning. Oof, it was scary because a bolt of lightning struck in the parking lot right when we were debating whether or not to run to our car! That could've been us! ._.**

**Either way, here's the chapter of the day! :D Not that I own Pokemon or anything…**

Darian was pleasantly surprised by the results of the trainer days they took. Every other day, they would wander around until they saw a Pokemon or trainer, and then they would immediately start a battling spree. It was really pleasant, surprisingly. Darian had been expecting all the battles he was in to be intense, like the one with Misty, but he had been wrong. A lot of the battles were relaxed and fun. He won a great deal of the time too, so he and Jenny were making a decent amount of money.

However, the trainer days did have one downfall. They made traveling anywhere take a long time. Plus, they were headed north, towards a lake in the shadows of Mt. Moon, instead of south towards Saffron City. Turns out, walking one way randomly gets you out of the city, but not always in the right direction. There were several, several trainers on the way to the cape, and Jenny and Darian had a blast fighting them all. They lost a few, but that was a given. There were six trainers in particular, all of whom had challenged them on a long bridge, and all got stronger as they went along. Apparently, there had been a prize for beating all six, but neither Jenny nor Darian knew that until Marie had utterly destroyed the last man's Ekans. He surprised them by dropping a shiny gold Nugget into their hands, and Darian had been thrilled.

Jenny, however, was not aware of the value of the Nugget, and instead of getting excited, she yelled at the man for giving them a rock, and she threw it over her shoulder and into the lake, much to Darian's horror. As they went along the route challenging trainers, Darian explained exactly why throwing away that Nugget would affect their lives in terrible ways. Jenny just nodded and ignored him. She was doing all the battling because there were a lot of Hikers on that route, with rock Pokemon that Darian didn't have an advantage over. At first he thought he could beat them like he had Brock, but the very first battle proved that not all rock trainers were easily distracted, and these trainers were much stronger than Brock. Each battle took forever, but Jenny didn't mind, because she was really starting to get along with Saur and Drew.

Jenny had finally gotten over calling Saur mean names, and when the names stopped, so did the whipping. Jenny was able to battle with Drew, because apparently he had been born knowing Mud Shot. Jenny had been excited when he used it on a Geodude and knocked it out flat, but Darian had to ruin her fun by explaining that Drew wasn't astounding, he had just been born with it because his mother had either been a Wooper or a Quagsire. He was boring her to death with talks about genetics, leaving her to wonder where he learned about this, because they certainly hadn't learned any if this in school.

"Darian, quiet!" she demanded imperiously after she defeated a particularly difficult trainer. "You're boring me!"

"Well, then. I guess I'll just hang back and shut up, Ms. Hotshot Trainer," he said, clearly offended.

"Come on now! The only reason we're winning is that my Poke thingy-"

"Pokedex."

"Yeah, that. It says we're over leveled for this area! Plus, I have an advantage over these old bearded Hiker dudes." she said as they reached the end of the route. "Crap."

"What is it? Oh." Darian said, turning around to look. "It's a dead end."

"Well… there's a house… Maybe someone can give us a room? I really don't feel like walking all the way back."

"Jenny, we can't just walk up to someone's house and ask for a roo- Or maybe we can." Darian finished as Jenny skipped right up and knocked on the door, ignoring Darian completely. He was starting to think that she only heard what she decided she wanted to hear.

A muffled cry of acknowledgement came from the house as Darian ran to catch up to Jenny. After the noises of struggle kept on going for a couple of minutes, a man's voice called out, "Come in!"

Jenny eagerly obeyed, but Darian stayed on the porch of the tiny little house. From what he could see, there was a Chingling and a whole bunch of technology that he didn't understand. He didn't trust it, not at all.

Jenny looked around for the man, but saw no one. "Hello…?" she called hesitantly, eyeing the Chingling in front of her.

"I'm here." The man's voice came again, but this time it came from the Chingling. Jenny screamed and jumped backwards, grabbing the nearest technological device and flinging it at the Chingling. To her horror, instead of dodging it and running away, the Chingling caught it in both hands, carefully setting it on the ground.

"Don't do that!" the thing scolded, "I need that to change back! You could've broken it!" Jenny screamed again, reminding Darian of Marie and hurting the Chingling Man's ears.

"Do you need something Mr… Chingling?" Darian asked politely, walking up to Jenny and covering her mouth.

"Yes, I need your help to change me back into a human." said the Chingling, twirling its bows sheepishly. "I seem to have gotten myself stuck. You see, I hired an assistant to help me after the same thing happened with another young man several years ago, but today is her day off. She warned me not to try this, but I thought I had it down pat, and I figured that I'd have to show independence sometime, ya know?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Chingling," Jenny started.

"Please call me Bill."

"I'm sorry Mr. Chingling," Jenny repeated, "But I didn't a hear a thing after you said you were once human. How is that possible?"

Darian nodded his agreement, and the Chingling called Bill chuckled. "Part of my research. You wouldn't understand. Would you help me please?"

"Not until you explain this to me. I don't wanna create a device for evil or something like that." Darian said firmly, crossing his arms.

"Oh, gladly!" the Chingling said excitedly, "It all starts with the development process! I map out the basic parameters of this machine while utilizing the amazing abilities that the use of trigonometric ratios provi-"

"STOP! We'll help you! What do I do?" Jenny cried desperately. Darian was enough of a smart person for her, and he was only ten. She didn't need her brain to explode.

"Fine." Bill huffed, "Just press the blue button when I get inside, and then press the red button when you hear a loud ding."

"That's it? I mean, for something that sounded so complicat-"

"Just do it. Oh wow, it feels good to interrupt people! I should do it more often! Anyways, I have to warn you. If you hear me screaming and begging you to stop, don't stop. It's just a tiny little side effect. Very rare actually, but it's the only thing keeping my invention from going mainstream. It's what I'm trying to eliminate."

"Ooooookay…" Jenny said hesitantly as the little yellow Pokemon hopped into one of two giant vessel thingies. Once he was completely inside, she pressed the blue button, and a bright white flash of light blinded Jenny and Darian. After seconds of scream-free silence, there was a loud ding, and Jenny pressed the red button. A shaggy looking man with shaggy brown hair and casual, but dingy, clothes burst out of the other capsule-ma-bob thing.

"Oh, thank the heavens! I was starting to fear being stuck like that when my assistant came back!" The man sighed, obviously relieved. "Is there anyway I can thank you?"

"Got a Jigglypuff?" asked Jenny, always looking for opportunities. The man blinked and shook his head.

"Ah, well. No one does. We don't need anything Mr. Chingling." She said nonchalantly.

"Please," the man said, looking confused, "Call me Bill. Anyway, isn't there anything? I really appreciate it. You guys are trainers, aren't you? My Pidgeot could give you a ride to the next town!" Jenny's mouth hung open. She gaped wordlessly and nodded her head.

"Yes, we would appreciate it! We're headed to Saffron!" Darian said ecstatically. He was tired of not battling, and Saffron wouldn't have very many rock trainers at all. He could get some bonding with Char and Marie! The man nodded decisively.

"It's decided then," he said in a tone that implied that nothing except acceptance would be tolerated. "You're headed to Saffron, and Rocky's going to take you!"

"Rocky?" said Jenny, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Well, her full name is Ragnarok Evil Ruler of the Universe, but that's a mouthful and it gets me weird looks." he wrung his hands and looked at Darian. "Yes! Exactly like that! Either way, you better hurry up, because I want Rocky home before dark, and Saffron's a good deal away, even with her ExtremeSpeed move."

Darian and Jenny looked around awkwardly, clearly at a loss for words. "I think the answer is thank you." supplied Bill, smiling as he withdrew a Pokeball from somewhere on his body.

"It's not that!" Jenny protested quickly. "It's just… I don't know, it's oddly convenient how you just happen to have a Pidgeot. Who just happens to know ExtremeSpeed. And just happens to be able to take us about 50 miles and then fly back in no time flat. It's awfully…you know… scripted?"

"Yeah," Darian said, "It's like some weird higher being that has control over us, oh I dunno, got bored and decided to push us along to the next event. Ya know? Without dealing with any funny business?"

"Er… No, I don't." said Bill, shifting his eyes suspiciously. "I think it's odd how you just happened upon me right when I was in need. And were willing to help. And didn't run away."

"Point taken," Jenny said, shrugging off the weird feeling she had, "And we'd like to thank you sincerely for letting us use your Pidgeot."

"No problem. Just one catch." As he took in the guarded looks from Jenny and Darian, he laughed and motioned to the cluttered room broadly. "It gets lonely and boring here. Call me every once in awhile so that I can live vicariously through you! Okay?" They nodded. "Okay. Come on out, Rocky!"

The Pidgeot that appeared before them was massive, and quite intimidating. Bill told it what had happened, and told it what to do. In acknowledgement, Rocky flapped her wings and extended them, knocking several things -including Jenny and Darian- to the floor. She cawed wildly and tried to get out the tiny door, clawing at the doorknob until Bill returned her and re-released her outside on the grass. Jenny and Darian got up, brushed themselves off, and followed Bill outside.

After several tries, and many harsh falls, Jenny finally managed to get onto the Pidgeot. She held her hands up triumphantly, and was about to issue a victory yell, when Darian simply grabbed Rocky's wing, swung his leg over and was ready to go.

"I hate your tallness." she said flatly. Darian chuckled.

"You're just jealous, shorty." he teased.

"Here's the thing, you _think_ you're funny, but it's not tru-"

"Fly, Rocky!" Bill cried, tired of the conversation. Forever obedient, Rocky took off, leaving Jenny's sentence to turn into wild screaming as they rose higher and higher into the air over Kanto.

"Goodbye Mr. Chingling!" Jenny screamed, hoping he would hear, and yet desperately afraid and clinging to Rocky for her life.

Darian laughed. "I couldn't even hear that, that's how high that was."

Jenny just groaned. "If I throw up, I'm turning towards you."

**Aaaaaaand we're done for today! I'm sorry it's short guys. I've got marching band camp all day, plus that Best Buy incident, so I tried to write as much as I could. **

**Bill, listen to what Darian said! He had the right idea! I have been struck by writer's block. -.- It haunts me. Curses.**

**Anyways! Responses to reviews! Sorafrosty, I love you! It would be perfect if you reviewed every chapter. By the way, everyone who's reading this, Sorafrosty wrote a new fic, and it's really good. You should go read it! Second, define-originality, I love you too! And I'm not sure if Darian's allowed to do that, but for my purposes he is! I can't find any rule stating otherwise. Magic Jac, I love you! (Are you seeing a trend?) Anyway, they're not headed to Vermillion yet. Since this isn't following the game, they can go in whatever order! DesecratedPharoah, dogperson13 and SorakoShabon, you know the drill! I love you! **

**Everybody review! Because a review can be, a beautiful thing, when the review I'm seein' is yours! **

**P.S. If you know that reference I just made, I shall love you forever. Spread the love!**


	15. The Crystal Chapter!

***walks in slowly* Whew. I am sooooo exhausted! Marching band camp really takes a lot out of you! I'm sorry I didn't update, it's just that camp is tiring, and I mostly got home and slept. Anyway, done with excuses, let's get on with the show, shall we?**

**Pokemon, oh Pokemon, why canst I owneth thou, Pokemon?**

After a very short amount of time flying through the skies, before Jenny even had a chance to think about looking down -or anything else that involved not throwing up- Rocky had dropped them off in Saffron City.

"That was fast, or rather, would have been if she was a snail," Jenny said, her hair blown back behind her head. She tottered around, trying to catch her balance while Darian laughed. Rocky let out a loud screech, and both of them turned to her. She bowed deeply, and both Darian and Jenny suddenly remembered their manners.

"Thank you so much, Rocky!" Jenny said, but she couldn't bring herself to go anywhere near the bird to give her a hug.

"Yes, really, you were a HUGE help! You saved us a whole lot of time!" Darian said, and he seemed just fine with the prospect of a hug, so he hugged Rocky. Rocky just shook him off, turned, flapped her wings and took off.

Darian and Jenny watched as Rocky launched herself into the air. She didn't seem to be going that fast, but once she reached a high enough altitude to avoid slamming into any buildings, she suddenly disappeared with a blur off towards the direction they had just came from.

"So is that what we looked like?" Jenny asked, horrified.

"I guess so," Darian said, impressed, "But don't worry about that now! Look where we are! We're in Saffron City!" He motioned widely to the massive expanse of city they were looking at. The buildings were extremely tall, so high that Jenny had to tilt her head straight up to see the sky, and they were everywhere. It seemed like a giant might be able to walk around in the city comfortably, without running into anything.

"Saffron's a pretty commercial city," Darian started, launching into his annoying tour guide mode, "So you'll be hard put to find houses here. Interestingly, most of the houses surround the biggest tower in the city, Silph Co. As you know, they create most of the Pokegadgets you see around on the market today. The leader of Saffron City's gym is Sabrina, who specializes in Psychic types, so she's pretty tough. We need to watch out-" he broke off as Jenny jumped up and conked him over the head with her fist.

"Stop saying words," she demanded, "I need to focus, I'm trying to remember what the gym leader here specializes in!"

"Psychic types!" Darian said, throwing his hands up in the air, "If you had listened, you would have known that!"

"Oh. Well it's your fault for being boring." Jenny mumbled, embarrassed, "Let's just find the Pokemon center okay? It's getting dark out."

Darian looked up at the sky. "What are you talking about Jenny? It's barely even sunset."

"As in, it's getting dark out, and probably will be dark by the time we find the Pokemon center in this giant mega city, and I don't want to be stuck outside in dark alleyways when we could be sleeping in a soft bed. So let's go." Jenny said, grabbing his arm and running off in a random direction.

"Jenny!" Darian protested, "The last time you did this, we went off in the totally wrong direction!"

Jenny, however, kept going, reminding Darian about how that wrong direction led them to where they were now. Darian just wondered how he managed to be dragged around by someone a foot shorter than him.

Remarkably, after only a couple of minutes of Jenny's rambling and random corner turning, they reached the Pokemon center. Jenny would've passed right by it, and Darian would've too if he had been paying to anything Jenny was saying. However, he wasn't, so he stopped right in front of it. Jenny, surprised to be stopped in her tracks, turned around to give Darian a thorough scolding, but then she too realized where they were.

"Hey, Darian! I found the Pokemon center!" she cried victoriously, "I told you that random works!"

Darian just sighed. He clearly wasn't going to get anywhere with Jenny. "Yes Jenny, you were right. You told me. Now that we know where it is, can we go explore? It's not dark out yet, and this city is almost the 8th wonder of the world itself! It's an opportunity to learn so many things! Why would you want to pass up that opportunity?"

"I'm sorry Darian," Jenny said happily, "But I didn't hear a single word you said after 'Yes Jenny, you were right.'" She did a little dance on the sidewalk, and nearly ran into a Trainer walking out of the Pokemon center.

"Watch it!" the boy hissed. He flipped his black hair out of his eyes and walked off quickly, giving both of them a dirty look.

"Geez, what's wrong with him?" Jenny asked confusedly, and Darian shrugged.

"I don't know," Darian said, but Jenny, ever the one to change the subject, ran into the Pokemon center. Darian sighed, again, and followed Jenny inside.

Inside the center, it looked exactly like every other Pokemon center, but it was filled with Trainers just like the ones outside. Most of them were dressed in all black, had dyed black hair, and thick black makeup with several piercings. Even the Nurse Joy behind the counter was dressed in all black, although her hair remained the signature pink. There were a few trainers like Jenny and Darian, and they were easy to spot because they were dressed in color and hung back against the walls, looking either terrified, confused, or normal, as if this happened every day.

"Uhm, what's going on here?" Jenny called to the Nurse Joy from across the room. Several faces turned her way.

"Don't you know?" The Nurse Joy asked sarcastically, but Jenny took it seriously and shook her head.

"It's the monthly meeting of the Sabrina Fan Club," said a Trainer near them. She didn't seem very nice. "She's an inspirational figure to us, because she utilizes the psychic side of her body to absolutely crush her opponents in battle and develop a higher bond with her Pokemon. Everyone should strive to be like her. We've been trying to get her to make an appearance since we formed several years ago, but she's refused every time. Most of the founders are adults now, and no longer believe in the cause, but we've finally gotten her to agree. She should be here any minute."

The room was alive with conversation, everyone mumbling excitedly to each other. Darian looked at Jenny. "We're going to have to battle Sabrina one day, maybe soon," he said, "So maybe we should stick around? To get to know our opponent?"

Jenny nodded. "You're making sense for once, Dairy-boy!"

Darian looked at her, frustrated. He was about to ask her where she even came up with that name, but the doors opened behind them, and several of the Goth Trainers forced them out of the way. A slender woman with long green hair and a bright red jacket with gold buttons walked in, a giggling Haunter at her side. She smiled at the Haunter before turning to face the rest of the center, but the Goth Trainers were already ignoring her.

She coughed lightly, but only a few people looked at her, Jenny and Darian included. "Do you need something, ma'am?" Jenny asked politely. The woman looked at her before nodding.

"Could you get their attention please, young one?" The woman said. Jenny happily agreed.

Jenny turned to the rest of the center. "HEY!" she shouted, and almost everybody looked at her, "THIS WOMAN WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO YOU!" Several people turned away, "SO THAT MEANS SHUT UP!"

The woman looked at Jenny gratefully, before turning back to the people. "You seemed to have lost enthusiasm," she began, and several people glanced at her confusedly. One brave trainer even spoke up.

"What do you mean, lady? We have plenty of enthusiasm, just not for people with happy emotions like you." Jenny recognized the trainer as the girl who had explained the Fan Club earlier.

"Well," the woman said, her purple eyes flashing, and her voice a tiny bit more hostile, "I took the time out of my busy schedule to get here. I had heard that you'd been trying to get an audience with me for several years." The Trainer's eyes widened, and Sabrina smirked, "But you seem to have lost enthusiasm. Perhaps I should leave?"

Before the Trainer in question had time to backpedal, most of the room emphatically protested and the girl was pushed to the back where she couldn't see anything. Jenny was in shock. Wasn't Sabrina supposed to be Goth? And a Psychic trainer? Why did she have a Haunter? And why was she _happy_?

It was almost as if Jenny had spoken out loud. Sabrina turned to her, smiling. "You're right, little girl. I used to be… well, like this," she motioned towards the mass of Trainers staring at her, "But I realized how I was acting thanks to this Haunter and the young man who gave him to me, and I'm not so Goth anymore. I do have my moments where I relish people's pain, don't get me wrong, but being happy is a wonderful emotion, so I try to keep it around. To your next question, I am a Psychic Trainer. I don't use Haunter in battle. In fact, he's pretty useless," The Haunter protested wildly, and Sabrina laughed, poking at its eyes, "Like I said earlier, a young man gave him to me. You might've heard of him, but that's a later story. Again, like I said earlier, Haunter's pretty much the reason I'm so happy. His sense of humor is hilarious." To prove it, Haunter made a bomb and threw it into the crowd. Several people backed away, but when the bomb exploded, a small red flag that said 'BANG!' laid in its place. Sabrina giggled, and action that people certainly didn't associate with the image they had of her.

"Any questions?" Sabrina asked curiously, and several hands immediately shot up, much to her amusement. Darian and Jenny pushed their way back through the throng of people and towards the gothic Nurse Joy. She had been hanging on every word, and was very grumpy when Jenny asked her to heal their Pokemon, but she obliged anyway.

Jenny looked at Darian. "So, what we learned is that she isn't Goth," she started, "But we didn't know she was Goth in the first place. Anything else?"

Darian looked at her condescendingly. "Of course," he said, putting on an educated accent, "We learned that she doesn't use that Haunter in battle. Judging by how much she seems to love that Pokemon, I'd say it's her strongest, and she doesn't use it!"

"Uh huh." Jenny said. "And when do we battle her?" Darian looked down at his toes.

"Weeeell, if you want to be exactly like every other trainer-"

"I do! I do!"

"Well, that means two badges from now. She's the fifth on the circuit, I believe. We'd have to beat Lt. Surge and Erika first."

"Does that mean she's stronger?" Jenny asked hesitantly.

"Yes, yes it does."

"We're going to Lt. Surge first." Jenny said flatly and decisively, and Darian didn't dare argue.

**Ahhh, we have come to the end of another chapter mis amigos! In fact, it's the 15****th**** chapter! That makes this the Crystal Chapter! :D Hooray! **

**Anyway, response to reviews! CHuCkLeSXD279, don't you worry, I'll be updating for a good long time! And don't worry about Saur's evolution! She can take care of herself already :D**

**Sorafrosty, I love your review! Rocky's full name makes me laugh too! Misty4ever, don't worry! Your reviews are always so constructive and helpful, so it's nice that you review at all! o-Crystal Sakura-o, no worries! Camping is always fun. dogperson13, Sarah's going to be gone for awhile. But she will be back! Eventually. To define-originality and Magic Jac, breaking the fourth wall is fun, but it's not exactly professional, so I'm try to hold back on it. XD**

**Review everybody! I write for you, so I wanna know whatcha think!**


	16. Announcement

**Announcement:**

**I sincerely apologize everyone, but I have to go on a temporary hiatus for July. I know that this may lose me quite a few readers, but I really do have to focus on my summer homework. I've been slacking, and I really have to get it done. There are three books I have to read and do reports on. Also, there are two weeks during July where I will be nowhere near any sort of technology. Please forgive me, everyone. I know you've been having fun reading this, and I've been having fun writing this, so I can assure that if you could have faith in me, I will definitely be back. I don't know how many times I should apologize, so just imagine that I've apologized a million times and then multiply that by a million.**

**Thank you so much for your support, and I assure you that I'll be back in no time.**


	17. The Roads Not Taken

**Well… hi! I don't really know what to say, besides I apologize. I say I'm gone for a month and I'm gone for over half a year. There's really no excuse. I hope you all can find it in your hearts to forgive me… :D?**

**We've established that I don't own Pokemon pretty effectively by now, but just in case the prolonged amount of time made you forget, I don't.**

"So, how are we going to pull this off, Jenny?" Darian said, looking over his map and eyeing the expanse of tall grass in front of them. The passageway out of Saffron had been misleading. It had given them the impression that it was a straight, clean road to Vermillion. If only.

"The same way we always do, Darian! Just run for it!" Jenny chided. Drew, who had taken to sitting on her head when he was too tired, which was too often for Jenny's neck muscles, pointed his claw, imitating Jenny's fierce expression.

Darian frowned. Even after spending a whole week in Saffron for relaxation and sightseeing purposes, Jenny's remained impatient and brash. Even after simply walking everywhere instead of running, she was eager to pick up the pace. Maybe that was just who she was. Yeah, it was. But still. His legs hurt. "Look. Jenny. That worked in the cave because we had a Charmeleon spraying fire everywhere and scaring everyone off. It worked in Saffron because there are no wild Pokemon and we were bound to get where we were going eventually. Here is different. See those moving dots in the distance? Those are probably Pokemon trainers, not to mention the stronger levels of all the wi- And you're gone. Of course you are. You always are." He rolled up the map, sighing as he heard a squeal of protest from the tall grass.

"Ew, ew, ew!" came Jenny's squeal, "Drew! Use Mud Shot!"

A crash echoed in Darian's ears, and when he looked up, a small shadow was flying through the sky, landing with a squeak and a thump several yards away. Jenny came dashing out of the grass, clutching Drew, who had somehow migrated to her arms, and panting heavily. "Darian! That savage beast attacked me!" She said accusingly, as if it were his fault.

"What was it?" Darian asked curiously. He had a sneaking suspicion that Jenny had messed up her hair herself in her hurry to escape.

"It was pink, and round and it squeaked at me in savageness!" she cried, and Saur, who had stayed by Darian, snickered, covering her laugh with her vines. Darian, however, had dropped his jaw and was staring at Jenny skeptically.

"Jenny. Jenny, Jenny, Jenny," Darian said slowly, shaking his head slowly in disbelief.

Jenny crossed her arms and glared at him. "What's your problem, Darian?" she asked impetuously.

"Pink and round? There's only one Pokemon like that on this route. And you just kicked it into Sunday."

"What Pokemon is that?" she asked flatly, leaning on one hip expectantly.

"Jigglypuff."

"… No. You're kidding. You're kidding, right? You must be insane. You're wrong. Clearly, you're wrong. There's no possible way… No, you're lying."

"I'm not lying, Jenny. You just fought off a Jigglypuff," Darian said, and the snicker from down by his kneecaps grew louder. Jenny glared in his general direction, but she was standing far enough away that he couldn't tell if it was directed at him or Saur. Either way, he shuddered.

"I'm going to go find it again," she said suddenly, desperately. "I've waited long enough! Come on, Drew! Saur!"

With that, she dashed off. Drew squeaked in mild protest and Saur grumpily followed. Darian was left alone. Again. He could get awfully tired of that. He gathered himself up, released Char, and they both strolled along, following the path instead of the grass route Jenny was determined on taking. After fifteen minutes of blissfully relaxing strolling and admiring of the waving grass, sounds of frustrated shouts interrupted the silence.

When he came upon Jenny, she was standing in the middle of the dirt path that snaked through this route, sticking her finger in a very angry looking boy's face. The Mudkip by the boy's side was making funny faces at Saur and Drew. Drew excitedly returned them, but Saur looked ready to lay down the law.

"Look here, buttface!" she was shouting belligerently, "I don't care how long your sister's been waiting for a Jigglypuff, I've been waiting longer, and that Pokemon you just captured is MINE!"

"If it was yours," the boy said through gritted teeth, his face flushing red, "then it would have rejected my pokeball when I threw it! You're just making it up to steal my baby sister's new Pokemon! Thief!" "I'm no thief!" she screamed, "You are! I weakened the Jigglypuff, and it's mine! You just came in as I was chasing it! That's bad Trainer Etiquette, you meanie thief!"

"I'm not the thief here! You are!"

"No you are!"

"You are!"

"No, YOU ARE!"

"What's going on here?" Darian said soothingly, trying to defuse the tension that was rapidly leading itself into trouble.

"Stop interrupting!" They chorused in unison, both whirling on him simultaneously. They then glared at each other. The boy stood stock still, clenching his fists together until his knuckles turned white. Jenny's expression was fiercely outraged, but her muscles remained relaxed. The two Pokemon on the ground emulated their trainers' respective tactics.

"Were you two separated at birth or something?" Darian whistled, looking down at the boy, who looked remarkably like Jenny. "You look the same and have the same temperament. It's just a Pokemon!"

"It's not just a Pokemon! And we don't look the same!" they chorused again before falling silent and staring at each other. Then, Jenny stuck her tongue out, and they both huffed and glared at Darian.

"Okay, okay," Darian said, holding his hands up protectively. "But look. Jenny, you let that Pokemon go after you freaked out. It's probably rightfully… uh…"

"Ben," the boy said grudgingly, and Jenny stared at Darian, hurt.

"But I weakened it!" she protested, "I've wanted a Jigglypuff forever and ever and you're going to let this meanie thief take it?"

"Yes," Darian said firmly. "He already said he needs it for his sister, and there are always more Jigglypuff out there."

"Yeah, but not that one," Jenny grumped. However, it was pretty clear that she had already given in. She placed Drew back on her head, much to his relief. He had been squeezed in one arm while his trainer had been shoving her finger in someone else's face. "Why does your sister need it so much, anyway?" she asked sulkily.

"Well, she has always wanted one," The boy said, addressing Darian amiably and slowly regaining a normal color. "She's not got anything dramatic going on like a sickness or anything, but her birthday's coming up and she hasn't been speaking to me at all. I'm hoping this will get her to talk to me."

"Awwww!" Jenny squealed, "That's so sweet!"

The boy called Ben narrowed his eyes. "It'd be sweet if she were nicer. Sarah's always been hot-headed, but she's been ignoring me since she lost at Cerulean. It's not fair. I feel like I'm bribing her."

"Wait. Wait," Jenny said, "Is this Sarah about yea tall," she paused, motioning a couple inches taller then herself and a couple inches shorter than Ben, "has long brown hair and a Squirtle for a starter?"

Ben blinked, surprised. "Yeah, why?"

"THAT BRAT IS YOUR SISTER? Oh no way, you give me that Jigglypuff right now, she doesn't deserve one at all!" Jenny shouted loudly, pounding her fist on her hand for emphasis.

"What? No way! I need this, remember? How do you even know her?"

"She was a continuous thorn in our side from Viridian Forest until we parted ways in Cerulean," Darian explained, trying to lower the volume of the fighting that was ringing in his ears.

"That sounds like her," Ben muttered darkly.

"See! You don't like her either! So this means you should just hand me the Jigglypuff and back away!"

"Jenny!" Darian said fiercely, "Would you give it a rest? You're not getting that Jigglypuff today!"

Jenny drew back as if she had been slapped. "Fine, Dairy Boy," she said, uncharacteristically quietly. "You all just have your wonderful conversation on angelic Sarah and how much she deserves a Jigglypuff, and I'll just go along this little path right here and get to Vermillion. Feel free to come along."

She turned slowly, Saur following her, but when Darian did not follow, she picked up the pace. Soon, she rounded the corner and was out of sight. When she disappeared, Ben turned to Darian uncertainly.

"You're just going to let her leave like that?" He asked awkwardly, rolling back and forth on his heels. "I had gotten the impression you both were traveling together."

"Yeah, don't worry about her," Darian said reassuringly, "She pouts all the time. She's just around that corner there waiting for us."

"Us?"

"Well, do you want to come along? I'm sure Jenny won't mind after she gets over the Jigglypuff thing."

"Er," Ben said, ruffling his hands through his black hair. "Not particularly. I still have to find Sarah and get her this Jigglypuff in time. If we meet again, I'm sure we could travel for awhile. But I'm not really much of a trainer. I'm not taking the gym circuit race."

"Oh, okay," Darian said, surprised, "You're awfully brave for wandering around Kanto with just a Mudkip then."

"Yeah, my mom said I was crazy," Ben said, rolling his eyes. "Which is why Sarah became a trainer. To show me up."

"Well… I guess this is goodbye then," Darian said awkwardly, after a small pause.

"Uh… Yeah, bye!" Ben said, hurriedly rushing past Darian and towards Saffron. Darian exchanged a glance with Char, who snorted, smoke spiraling out of his nostrils. They both sighed. Now it was time to go get Jenny.

They started walking, and Darian reveled in the sounds of Pidgey and Spearow chirping in the distance. Char walked coolly beside him, striding confidently, and slight breezes flowed across his face. It was altogether too soon when he reached the corner. He clenched his eyes shut and waited for the torrent of anger to fly his way. When it didn't come, he opened one eye carefully. Jenny was standing there quietly, looking up at him somberly. Drew was in his pokeball, and Saur looked unusually pensive.

"Ready to go, Darian?" she asked quietly.

"You're not angry at me? No flying monkey impersonations?" Darian asked incredulously. Jenny just shook her head.

"Ready?" she asked again, and Darian nodded awkwardly. Jenny nodded back impassively and started walking. Darian followed after tensely, but he soon caught up. Jenny's pace was frustratingly slow.

"No anger, huh?" Darian asked skeptically.

Jenny shook her head and continued onward.

"None at all? There's no fiery wave of fierceness waiting for me if I say the wrong thing?"

"Nope."

"Alright then."

They continued on in this pattern for awhile. Darian would say something, and Jenny would either answer monosyllabically or not at all. He was convinced she was angry at him, but she was refusing to admit it.

"So two muffins are sitting in an oven. One turns to the other and says, 'Hot in here, isn't it?' And do you know what the other said? Jenny?" Darian asked in one of his many attempts to cheer her up.

"What?" Jenny asked flatly.

"Oh my Mew, a talking muffin!" Darian burst into laughter, holding his stomach and holding back tears. That was his favorite joke, and it never failed to make him laugh. Jenny just stayed silent. "Ugh! Jenny! You have to speak to me sometime! This isn't supposed to be a one-sided conversation!"

Jenny looked up at him, surprised. "You _want_ me to speak?" she asked timidly.

"Of course!"

"I don't… you know, make you angry?"

"All the time."

"Oh." Jenny fell silent again. Darian quickly backtracked.

"Kidding! Kidding! Please, I want you to speak!"

"You really do?"

"Yes, for the love of Mew! I do!"

Jenny's face broke into a wide grin. "So you DO love me when I'm annoying! I knew it! Haha! Dairy Boy, I'm just too amazing for you! Yaaaaaaaaaay!" She jumped into the air, punching the sky triumphantly.

"Now, wait Jenny!" Darian said quickly.

"No, no, no! You said you wanted me to speak! You like me when I'm me! If you want to change my mind, you'll have to beat me to Vermillion! Ready, set, go!" With a wild gesture, she set off running, Saur surprisingly keeping up with her. Darian exchanged a worried glance with Char and set off after her, but he did have to admit that if he ever traveled separately from Jenny, he would miss her absent chattering.

**Thought I was getting dramatic on you, didn't you? No, Jenny's never gonna change. Guys, I'd like to apologize again for leaving for so long. I can't make any guarantees about a routine until summertime, because life is insane for me in the spring, but I promise you I'll do my best to keep updating. I'll never leave for half a year again, THAT I can promise you.**

**Responses to reviews will start up again next chapter, as last chapter was the announcement. Thank you so much for your support, and I'm sorry I let this go for so long.**

**Reviews are very much like corny jokes. They make this writer's day. And week. And life. But still. Click that little button down there and review, please!**


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